Caribbean Development Bank, the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank Announce Collaboration to Promote the Caribbean Growth Forum

During the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) forty second annual meeting held in Grand Cayman from May 23-24, 2012, CDB, The World Bank (WB) and Inter-American Bank (IDB) formally signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly support the work of the Caribbean Growth Forum (CGF). CGF aims to provide a platform for dialogue around the growth challenge with a view to identifying solutions that inspire action. The CGF will be guided strategically by a Steering Committee comprised of the Secretary General of CARICOM, President of the CDB, and the Vice Chancellor of UWI.
“The Growth Forum, I have argued, is perhaps the singular most important space to share and explore avenues of development for the Caribbean by bringing perspectives from inside and outside the region, and by allowing perspectives from a broad cross section of Caribbean people to be heard and to be acted upon”….said Warren Smith, CDB President.
The CGF is an initiative led by the IDB, WB, and CDB in close collaboration with the United Kingdom Agency for International Development and the Canadian International Development Agency, to identify policies and initiatives aimed at inducing growth and creating jobs in the Caribbean region through analytical work, knowledge exchange and inclusive dialogue.
“Through dialogue, informed by strong analytics and exposure to global best practices, we hope that the region will be able to chart a strategic direction towards knowledge and innovation-based growth. While this is entirely outside the lifetime of the planned one year CGF initiative, our hope is that the proposed policies and new initiatives will be implemented and create a launch pad to stimulate inclusive growth in the medium-term”….said Hasan Tuluy, World Bank Regional Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean
“We see growth as one of the most important conditions that will lead to improving the quality of life of the population, alleviating poverty, conserving the natural resource base, and maintaining macro-economic stability”….said Joel Branski, IDB Representative for Barbados
The Forum will engage a broad group of stakeholders, reaching beyond traditional constituencies to other critical players in the dialogue on economic growth including the private sector, the youth, civil society and the Caribbean Diaspora.
The Forum will commence on June 18 in Kingston Jamaica with the first Regional Conference, and will be followed by the Digital Jam 2.0 event during June 28-30 that will focus on youth and jobs in the Information and Communication Technologies sector.
For more information, please contact:
Desiree Mitchell
OECS Project Development Officer
Compete Caribbean Programme
Inter-American Development Bank
Mervue House,
Marine Gardens, Hastings,
Christ Church, Barbados. BB11000
Tel: 246 227 8549 • Fax: 246 429 8869
Email: MITCHELLD@Contractual.iadb.org