BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) – A two-day regional conference focusing on Caribbean infrastructural development through public private partnerships (PPPs) gets underway in Jamaica next week.

The June 18-19 Third Annual CIBC FirstCaribbean Infrastructure Conference will be held under the theme “Caribbean Infrastructure: Unlocking Economic Potential”.

The two-day event will focus on the key principles of the successful development of airport, tourism, water utilities, energy and social infrastructure.

The organisers said specifically selected regional case studies will be used to demonstrate how to ensure regional projects are suitably credit-enhanced to attract broader investor participation and unlock the full economic potential of infrastructural development in the Caribbean.

The conference will also feature international and regional investors, major infrastructure operators, rating agency infrastructure/project finance specialists, and infrastructure project advisors from the private and public sector and multilateral organisations.

CIBC FirstCaribbean chief executive officer, Rik Parkhill, said he was looking forward to this year’s event noting that the conference has grown into a major forum for international, multilateral and regional investors, governments and the private sector to engage with a view to building partnerships aimed at driving infrastructural development in the region.

Delegates will discuss a wide range of topics including the types of regional projects that continue to attract international investment; techniques to increase the credit rating of projects in the region as well as holistic approaches to airport and cruise port redevelopment.