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OAS Secretary General: “Trade and Investment are Powerful Tools for Development”

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, spoke about the economic strength of the region and its opportunities for continued growth at the Caribbean Investment Forum Gala event held in Port of Spain titled, “Partnering with Trinidad and Tobago to Create a Gateway between the Commonwealth and the Americas.”

At the event, which featured the participation of the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the OAS Secretary General noted that “the economies of the Commonwealth Caribbean are projected to expand by an average of about 2 percent in 2011, following last year’s weak performance”.

He also highlighted that “for the first time in its history, during the past decade Latin America and the Caribbean achieved a combination of high growth, macroeconomic stability, poverty reduction and improvement in income distribution.” Nonetheless, the Head of the hemispheric institution warned that “endemic poverty and inequality continue to be unacceptably high in our hemisphere” and mentioned data that reveals the high number of populations living in extreme poverty or indigence. “We need to do more and do better to lift the people of our hemisphere out of poverty,” he noted.

In Port of Spain, Secretary General Insulza also referred to some of the OAS initiatives to support the Caribbean’s development and explained how the organization has been assisting the Caribbean in its efforts to increase trade and investment, for example helping with the implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), particularly in Belize and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), and supporting CARICOM’s Office of Trade Negotiations in the services and investment areas. “We have expanded our trade capacity building program, which has traditionally focused on the negotiation and implementation of trade agreements, to design a program aimed at strengthening the capacity of institutions that provide services to Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), with special emphasis on women entrepreneurs, to promote their productivity and competitiveness, and to increase the participation of these micro, small and medium enterprises in the benefits offered by expanded markets,” he said.

On the issue of competitiveness, the OAS leader mentioned infrastructure as “a factor that has an impact on the business environment,” and advocated for the development of infrastructure in the region. “Better infrastructure will attract more investment and expand intra-regional trade, which is currently just 20 percent of total trade,” he added.

The OAS Secretary General also referred to education and innovation as tools that contribute to human capital. “The development of our workforce will depend on our ability to adapt our education systems and technical training to the conditions of a competitive environment requiring specialized skills,” he said, and further explained that “innovation has the potential to accelerate our productivity and our progress. One key component for the next phase of economic growth is the role of knowledge and intangible assets.”

In the context of the Forum, Secretary General Insulza expressed his concern over the high levels of inequality that still persist in the region and encouraged a stronger private-public partnership to work in this area, mentioning crime as one the main challenges for development. With this in mind, he cited the “Declaration of San Salvador on Citizen Security in the Americas,” which was adopted by all OAS Member States last week during the 41st OAS General Assembly held in El Salvador. “OAS Member States have committed themselves to cooperative mechanisms and actions in fighting this scourge, which is debilitating many of our societies. We have no choice but to work together to make progress on these issues,” he asserted.

“It has been said that this is the decade of Latin America. If this is the case, then I posit that this is an opportunity for the Caribbean countries to make it the decade of Latin America and the Caribbean. Forums such as this one, standing at the gateway between the Commonwealth and the Americas, are certainly a step in the right direction,” he concluded.

The Forum was also attended by the Chairman of the Commonwealth Business Council, Allan Fields, and the Director General of the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC), Dr. Mohan Kaul, as well as other special guests from the political and business arena.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-726/11