Active engagement with private sector critical – COTED Chair

The private sector’s importance in Regional growth and development was the highlight of remarks made at the opening ceremony of the Council for Trade and Economic Development’s Forty-First Meeting in Georgetown, Guyana.

Trade Ministers and representatives of the private sector of the Region continued their engagement at a special session immediately following the opening ceremony.

Reiterating that it was time the Community thought and acted “to change its way of doing business”, Chair of the COTED, Her Excellency Sieglien Burlerson, Minister of Trade and Industry of Suriname, said it was imperative to find active ways of engaging the business community.

We must find a way in actively engaging the private sector. It’s only by working together, that we will be in a position to make policy and implement new strategies. It is the private sector that (trades and does business). In this regard, I consider the session with the private sector of great importance,” the COTED Chair said in her remarks.

Referencing systems that had been put in place to create a conducive business environment, intra-Regional trade, and bilateral trade agreements, Minister Burlerson acknowledged that government and the private sector had to work together to increase production, enhance productivity and improve competitiveness.

CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, said that the private sector was a critical partner with government to stimulate growth.

The importance of this involvement cannot be over-emphasised, given the Community’s commitment to boost growth and employment, as underlined in our Strategic Plan.

The Private Sector is a critical partner with Governments to stimulate economic growth in CARICOM. That partnership is integral to the formulation of public policy for regional and national development, in particular in the areas of production and trade, and investment and finance”, the Secretary-General said in his Statement.