ST JAMES, Jamaica — Damie Sinanan, Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency, has hailed the recently concluded Caribbean Investment Forum (CIF), held in Montego Bay from July 29 to 31, as a resounding success.

The fourth staging of CIF took place at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James, focusing on four strategic pillars: the green economy, digital transformation, sustainable agriculture and food security, and logistics and transport. These areas are seen as critical for fostering a resilient, innovative, and self-reliant regional economy.

“This was an absolutely successful Caribbean Investment Forum. We had over 450 participants. We had over 200 business to business meetings. We saw a lot of success, and we expect a lot of deals to come out from Caribbean Investment Forum,” Sinanan told the Observer Online.

“This one definitely ranks as one of the top Caribbean Investment Forums that we have had so far,” he added.

Sinanan emphasised that CIF was deliberately structured to avoid being merely a forum for speeches.

“This is not a talk shop. We definitely made it so that… you would notice that we had our speeches and everything, our discussions, which are very important in the morning. But in the afternoon, we reverted to business-to-business meetings and project presentations. That was with the aim of connecting project developers with investors so that actual business could come out from it. We did not want to make Caribbean Investment Forum a normal talk shop where it’s just three days of just non-stop speeches and panels. To me, that gets us nowhere. It’s about doing business, and it’s about connecting the businesses with the other businesses,” he explained.

He also pointed to past success stories resulting from previous forums.

“There was a group out of the first Caribbean Investment Forum who was arranging to start the Caribbean ferry, that project is ongoing, and there were several other projects that had key success that has gained funding,” Sinanan noted.

During the opening ceremony, Sinanan outlined CIF’s growth since its 2022 launch, describing it as the region’s premier investment platform. From its inception in Trinidad and Tobago to its stops in The Bahamas in 2023 and Guyana in 2024, CIF has connected more than 1,500 delegates and investors from over 50 countries, showcasing nearly 60 bankable projects valued at more than US $350 million.