Above: CARICOM headquarters in Guyana

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The private sector needs to have a stronger voice at CARICOM meetings on trade and economic development issues, according to Barbados Industry Minister Donville Inniss.

The Minister, who was speaking this week ahead of the Council for Trade and Economic Development Ministerial Meeting in Georgetown, Guyana, said that it was generally accepted in the region that growth should be private sector led.

“This time around we are going to get a report on it and we have actually set aside some time on our final day of meetings to engage [in discussions] with the private sector,” he said. “We are going to have a public/private dialogue-styled road map for re-engagement and a proposal to further the work regarding a mechanism to facilitate engagement with the private sector.”

He said there was clearly a “need for the private sector to be at the table” at such meetings, arguing that all trade agreements, whether at the intra or extra regional level, lay within the hands of the private sector.

“They are the ones that are doing the manufacturing, the industrial development, the tourism services etc.,” he said. “And we expect that they, therefore, need to be part of the discussion as we set the policies on trade and economic development … To me, that is going to be a major highlight of our session.”