The session took place during the Forum on the Future of the Caribbean, held in Trinidad and Tobago on May 5-7.
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) celebrated a panel discussion at the Forum on the Future of the Caribbean, in Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday 7 May 2015, to explore innovative financing solutions in the context of the upcoming United Nations Conference on Financing for Development that will be held in Addis Ababa in July.
At the opening of the session, which examined opportunities that exist for domestic and international development financing for Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS), ECLAC's Deputy Executive Secretary Antonio Prado outlined important areas of focus for these countries, like the need to address the issue of debt relief in a sustainable manner and the possibility of mobilizing resources through diaspora bond issue and increased remittances.
The panel included Ms. Gail Hurley, Policy Specialist on Development Finance at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in New York, and Mr. Jwala Rambarran, Governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, and two discussants, Mr. Ransford Smith, former Deputy Secretary General of the Commonwealth Secretariat and career diplomat in the Foreign Service of Jamaica, and Professor Compton Bourne, former president of the Caribbean Development Bank.
The session addressed the dilemma of the Caribbean's middle income status and its impact on access to concessional financing. The panelists reiterated the need to look beyond income per capita to states' ability to mobilize finances, debt ratios, vulnerability to shocks and social challenges in determining eligibility for concessional funding.
Ms. Hurley highlighted that the biggest challenge for the region is receiving financing for development, while Governor Rambarran underscored the opportunity presented by increased remittance flows to the region, noting that they had become a very important source of external financing. He estimated that remittances now represent about 6% of gross domestic product (GDP) for the region and as much as to 21% of GDP in Haiti.
Mr. Prado, in closing the session, pointed to ongoing initiatives by ECLAC in the subregion, including pursuit of advocacy for a broader set of criteria to take account of the vulnerability of SIDS.
He also mentioned the design of a strategy to achieve debt reduction and improve fiscal management in Caribbean states, and expansion of its capacity development efforts towards enhancing resilience building and risk reduction among member states to improve the response to losses from external events and advocate for more secure access to international finance to address this challenge.
The Forum on the Future of the Caribbean provided the opportunity for regional and international leaders to tackle challenges to Caribbean development, and identify strategies for securing a sustainable future. It was co-hosted by The University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago in collaboration with United Nations System, regional inter-governmental partners, and The Commonwealth Secretariat.
