A multi-donor private sector development program financed by

Compete Caribbean Supports Investment Attraction In Belize

Compete Caribbean, the private sector development programme jointly funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the United Kingdom Department of International Development (DFID) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has signed an agreement to provide a technical assistance grant to Belize. The grant is to be used to strengthen the institutional framework of BELTRAIDE – the Belize Trade and Investment Development Service – to support investment attraction. The agreement was signed by Anneke Jessen, IDB Country Representative in Belize and Mike Singh, Executive Chairman of BELTRAIDE.
Under the agreement, Compete Caribbean will contribute US$325,000 – and the government of Belize US$90,000 to refocus BELTRAIDE’s investment attraction efforts towards key sectors that will drive economic growth and upgrade the institution’s human resource capacity to effectively target and support investors.
“We are happy to partner with BELTRAIDE on this very important initiative,” stated Ms. Jessen, the IDB Country Representative in Belize. “For many countries, the ability to enact timely and appropriate business climate reforms may be hampered by lack of technical resources and insufficient access to capital. Compete Caribbean’s $US40 million in development capital is the result of a strong partnership between CIDA, DFID and the IDB to try to offset these challenges.”
Mike Singh, Executive Chairman of BELTRAIDE stated: “We are grateful for this grant from Compete Caribbean. It comes at a time when, as an institution, BELTRAIDE is reshaping its focus and putting in place key mechanisms to be an investment promotion agency that can make a difference in the economic development of Belize. The economy benefits significantly from Foreign Direct Investments and we intend to be more strategic in the types of investments we attract to the country. We look forward to a productive partnership with between Compete Caribbean and BELTRAIDE.”
Project implementation for BELTRAIDE will take place over a two-year period and is set to begin immediately.
ABOUT COMPETE CARIBBEAN
Compete Caribbean is a US$40 million private sector development program jointly funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the United Kingdom Department of International Development (DFID) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), to provide technical assistance grants and investment funding to support productive development policies, business climate reforms, clustering initiatives and Small and Medium Size Enterprise (SME) development activities in 15 Caribbean countries, including Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominican Republic, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago . For more information about Compete Caribbean, please visit our website at http://competecaribbean.org/.

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