CARICOM Planning to “Engage” Caribbean Business Leaders

Above: St Vincent (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

CARICOM Heads of Government are planning a new push to engage with the Caribbean’s business leaders, the bloc said in a statement following their meeting in St Vincent last week.

The move was announced by CARICOM Chairman and St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves.

“The Heads of Government have agreed to have a high level consultation with the captains of industry and commerce at our Regular Meeting in July,” the Prime Minister said, pointing to the economic situation facing the region as the “centerpiece” of last week’s agenda.

Gonsalves said the CARICOM Heads had received a report from the Commission on the Economy, which was set up in September 2013.

That report, he said, identified “areas for country-specific action or efforts that could be undertaken jointly on financial sustainability, private sector stimulation and the business regulatory environment, transitioning to sustainable growth and resource mobilization.”

The next CARICOM Heads of Government meeting is scheduled to take place in Antigua and Barbuda in July.