(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Sector is vital to the economic and social development of the Region, given its contribution to the creation of employment particularly for the Region’s youth.

This was the view of CARICOM’s Assistant Secretary-General for Regional Trade and Economic Integration, Ambassador Irwin Larocque, at the opening of the Second Roundtable on The Strategic Plan and Coordinating Mechanisms for Small and Medium Enterprises, Tuesday 24 October, at the CARICOM Secretariat Headquarters in Georgetown.

Ambassador Larocque, in welcoming officials to the two-day meeting said that the coming into being of the CARICOM Single Market had further underscored the Region’s reliance on the innovative and creative nature of the entrepreneur.

“Clearly, the supportive institutions now required will have to accommodate possible cross-border activity such as mergers and joint ventures, while the scope for businesses has concomitantly widened, both in range and depth, “Ambassador Larocque stated. He added that the Region’s banking and financial systems, its transport and communication systems, as well as its Public Sector services such as Customs, would have to respond to the demand from the Business Sector.

The CARICOM Assistant Secretary-General said that the CARICOM Secretariat was cognisant of the importance of SMEs, and had facilitated a number of training seminars and conferences on the issues affecting SMEs. He added that advances at the regional level included the CARICOM Trade Facilitation Fund initiated by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to assist the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises throughout the CARICOM Region, and the Enterprise Development Scheme of the Caribbean Development Bank.

Ambassador Larocque told the meeting that the Region was now moving to ensure that the necessary legislation was in place to facilitate business expansion to enable the Private Sector to undertake new and creative activity, in addition to facilitating Public/Private Sector Partnerships.

He cited as a welcome initiative, the recently formed Caribbean Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (CASME), and noted that it has added institutional strength to enabling and supporting the Region’s SMEs.