CDB: More Investments Need to Improve Competitiveness in Trade

By Caribbean Business Report | Photo credit: Ms. Barbara D’Adrea Adrian, Chief of the International Trade Statistics Section

Regional governments should increase investment in trade enabling initiatives which strengthen both competitiveness and efficiency, says Ian Durant, the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB, the Bank) Director of Economics. Speaking at the joint Regional Workshop on Measuring Digital Trade for CARICOM Countries hosted by CDB, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Trinidad and Tobago, he stated that these strategies can only be effected through deliberate and intensified regional collaboration and capacity building.

Also speaking at the event was Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Planning and Development, Trinidad and Tobago and CDB’s Director for Trinidad and Tobago, Mrs. Artie Bedassie-Maharaj, who emphasized that “Collaboration is indeed the cornerstone of success. The Bank is working with several partners to intensify its efforts to enhance trade efficiency, competitiveness, and technical capacity across the Caribbean.

A cornerstone of this initiative is the current collaboration with the WTO and UNCTAD on the Statistics Training Programme, which burgeoned out of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by WTO and CDB in 2022.

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This Programme aims to modernise the production, compilation, dissemination, and utilisation of data within national statistics and customs offices, central banks, as well as ministries of trade. By strengthening the capacity of these institutions, CDB seeks to promote evidence-based trade policies that can drive economic growth and reduce poverty in the region.

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