BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – One of the region’s leading trade and investment promotion organisations, the Caribbean Export Development Agency, is reporting significant progress in helping regional firms to build export capacity.

According to executive director of Caribbean Export Development Agency, Deodat Maharaj, last year the agency continued its laser focus on its 2021-2024 strategic plan to develop sectors that can drive economic and social transformation in the region.

These areas, he said, included investment promotion, especially in the green economy; leveraging of technology in agriculture to help boost food security and innovation and digitalisation within the services sector.

“We think the sectors that we are focused on can really help advance a transformational agenda for the region and we intend to stay the course,” said Maharaj.

He was addressing the launching ceremony of Caribbean Export’s 2022 Annual Results Report – Transforming to a Smarter, Greener, Resilient Caribbean – last week.

In addition to a major focus on investment promotion, Caribbean Export said it was able to ramp up the implementation of its strategic plan with the rolling out of some 47 interventions, which impacted over 1,000 business professionals from the CARIFORUM region.

The organisation says that last year was one of growth, with it achieving an 89 per cent implementation rate against the total budget for the 11th EDF regional private sector development programme. Caribbean Export disbursed over US$2.1 million in grant funding last year to 138 small businesses.

It reported that 52 per cent of beneficiaries represented females, as the organisation continued to focus on ensuring gender inclusion.

Some seven new programmes were introduced as Caribbean Export fostered new partnerships with financial and other institutions to help propel the agency’s plans to help small businesses grow and become export ready and more sustainable.

Maharaj said Caribbean Export was committed to “doing more to deliver results where it matters – on the ground and in the lives of people”.

“I think we are at a critical crossroads in our region. We have the option of focusing on business as usual or advancing a true transformation agenda for our region – giving jobs and opportunity for our people,” he said.

Dr Lynette Holder, chair of the board of directors of Caribbean Export, gave the assurance that attracting investment to the region will be a priority for the organisation going forward, as she noted that the region continued to be challenged by low productivity and small size due to a lack of investment to build capacity.

“For this reason, more emphasis should be placed on building export capacity and facilitating trade,” said Holder.

“Caribbean Export remains committed to improving the capacity of private sector firms and the market access for export-ready products and services to grow exports from the region to the international community,” she said, while describing the last year as a transformative one for Caribbean Export.

David Mogollon, head of Cooperation of the EU to Barbados, the OECS and Caricom/Cariforum, said the EU would continue to join forces with Caribbean Export “to support sustainable and inclusive economic growth and operations in this region with a clear focus on green transformation, digital transformation and supporting SMEs access to the EU market”.

Noting that the EU has provided in excess of 50 million Euros drover the past two decades, Mogollon said the EU was keen on introducing several new programmes in the coming years aimed at helping regional firms access the EU market.

“We are also trying to bring the expertise of the EU member states to the region in areas that are key,” he said.