Above: IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno (OAS Photo/Juan Manuel Herrera)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Latin American and the Caribbean need to promote the development of small and medium-sized companies in order to make process on poverty reduction efforts, Inter-American Development Bank President Luis Alberto Moreno said Monday in Bridgetown.

Moreno was speaking at the opening of the FOROMIC conference in Barbados, a meeting of around 1,000 people.

“SMEs face a variety of barriers that prevent their growth, but most SMEs rate access to finance as the main obstacle,” he said Monday. “Without diminishing our attention on financial inclusion and the micro level, there are a series of initiatives we are developing to promote the growth of SMEs through greater access to finance, markets and information resources.”

Barbados Prime Minister Freundel Stuart also stressed the importance of stimulating entrepreneurship.

“Barbados, like many other countries around the world, is facing tough economic times,” Stuart said. “One of the new columns in which the economy must be rebuilt is taht of entrepreneurship of all levels. The relevance and importance of a forum at this time, therefore, cannot be overstated.”

The FOROMIC conference, which is being held in the Caribbean for the first time, is expected to foster business tourism in Barbados, along with creating business opportunities for Caribbean entrepreneurs with other Latin American countries.

Earlier Monday, Moreno signed agreements for four projects with the Multilateral Investmen Fund to finance access to savings and promotion of greener businesses among SMEs.