PHILIPSBURG:--- St. Maarten, as the newest member of the Caribbean Investment Promotion Agency (CAIPA), attended its first official workshop in Costa Rica from June 28 to 30. CAIPA is the regional agency geared at promoting the islands of the region in an effort to attract legitimate Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). St. Maarten was represented by Jude Houston, Senior Policy Advisor at the Department of Economy, Transportation, and Telecommunications (ETT).
The objective of the workshop was for member countries to acquire firsthand knowledge of the approach of the Costa Rican Investment and Trade Development Board (CINDE) to attract foreign investors and to interact with actual investors to ascertain what criteria they consider for investing in particular countries of the region.
During the workshop, member countries had the privilege to meet with foreign entities such as INFOSYS BPO Limited, Baxter Agencies, Sykes, and CITI Group among others. These entities shared their experience with CINDE and their reasoning for choosing Cost Rica as their place of doing business.
Given the objective of these workshops and the objective of CAIPA, the Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Traffic and Telecommunication (TEATT), in its bid to spur economic growth and development considers the initiative of CAIPA very important.
Analysis has indicated that the period St. Maarten experienced 5 to 6 percent economic growth was when FDI inflow was at its highest. Hence, it is the Ministry's intention to develop strategies and actively identify diversifying sectors for which the island will promote investment and development purposes. ETT is in in the process of developing an Investment Strategy document.
Countries that attended this workshop included; Anguilla, Antigua, Aruba, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Bahamas, Curacao, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Turks & Caicos Islands and the Dominican Republic.
