Agencies reinforce commitment to work together to increase competitiveness in the Caribbean
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados
– The United Kingdom Department of International Development (DFID) and
the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) discussed Feb. 5, 2010 progress made
in joint trade support and in the preparation of projects to promote
private sector development and competitiveness in the Caribbean.
Compete Caribbean
The Compete Caribbean program
is an initiative jointly designed by IDB, DFID and the Canadian
International Development Agency (CIDA). The program will benefit 15
CARIFORUM countries and is expected to be approved by the IDB Board of
Executive Directors in March 2010.
The Compete Caribbean program will establish an Enterprise Innovation Challenge Fund
offering matching grants to private sector businesses - clusters, and
small and medium-sized enterprises – to help them develop innovative
products and services that are able to compete in regional and global
markets.
Compete Caribbean
will also support business climate reforms - to create a sound enabling
environment for private sector growth – by supporting regulatory reform
and public-private dialogue, within a comprehensive private sector
development framework.
DFID’s
Director for Middle East, Caribbean, Asia (North, Central and East) and
the British Overseas Territories, Ms. Sue Wardell, confirmed a £10
million contribution (around US$15.8 million) to the program.
“Innovation in the private sector is crucial for the Caribbean to
recover from the economic downturn and move their economies on to a
high growth trajectory,” added Ms. Wardell. “The Enterprise Innovation Challenge Fund, in
particular, can provide a launching pad for new business ideas which
expand the regional export base and help Caribbean companies to
access international markets."
“Consultations
with over 120 decision makers from the public and private sector, as
well as regional institutions, confirmed the need for business climate
reforms to promote private sector development as well as firm-level
technical assistance to increase productivity, innovation and access to
global markets,” said IDB program Team Leader Jose Jorge Saavedra. “The
Compete Caribbean program responds to these demands and will support governments and businesses in generating employment and economic growth.”
Aid for Trade
DFID provided the first contribution to an IDB launched multidonor Aid for Trade Strategic Fund
in December 2009, with £910,000 (around US$1,480,000) committed to
helping the public and private sectors in Latin America and the
Caribbean to integrate into the global economy.
“The Aid for Trade
fund plays a key role in enhancing Caribbean countries capacity to take
advantage of trade liberalization opportunities by helping them to
address important constraints which impede them from benefiting of
market access,” said IDB Aid for Trade Coordinator Carolyn Robert.
“This is particularly relevant for small countries in the context of
current trade liberalization efforts undertaken by the Caribbean with
major trading partners and of declining trade volumes as a result of
the global economic crisis”.
“The
fund will support these countries by channeling grants to develop trade
adjustment assistance programs, enhance trade facilitation, and improve
institutional capacity to design and implement trade policy, including
recently concluded trade agreements, like the Economic Partnership
Agreement signed between CARIFORUM and the European Union,” added
Pamela Coke Hamilton, IDB Trade Specialist in Barbados. “As the fund
represents an important tool in addressing priority issues in the
Caribbean regional trade agenda, DFID and the IDB are working closely
with other regional organizations, governments and the private sector
to set priorities and coordinate efforts.”
A
high level regional review with government and private sector
participants from all countries of the region was held last year in
Jamaica in order to monitor progress in the implementation of the Aid
for Trade initiative to support mainstreaming trade into national and
regional development agendas, to foster regional approaches and to
promote donor coordination.
The
Aid for Trade fund covers activities under four areas: (i) trade
policy, negotiation and implementation agreements; (ii) trade
facilitation and private sector development; (iii) initiatives that
help connect markets that are complimentary to physical infrastructure,
such as the harmonization of regulatory frameworks and the reduction of
transit costs; and (iv) trade-related adjustment activities to help
countries adapt to trade liberalization.
DFID/IDB Cooperation
DFID
has been a generous contributor of grant resources to the IDB over the
past 15 years. In the 1990s, DFID established two funds to address
post-conflict challenges in Central America -- the Capacity Building
for Local Institutions in Central America (CABILICA) Fund for US$3.1
million and the ENLACE Fund that financed social inclusion operations
for US$1.6 million.
During
the 2000s, DFID continued to finance innovative pro-poor technical
cooperation with the Markets and Governance Poverty Reduction Fund for
US$6.85 million and the Trade and Poverty Fund for US$1.6 million. In
addition, DFID has also made smaller co-financing contributions to
specific IDB projects. Over the 1995-2010 period, DFID co-financed 30
projects, including studies on fiscal fairness in the Andean countries
and support for the Colombia and Bolivia poverty reduction strategies
for a total of US$10.7 million.
DFID - The organization leading the British Government’s fight against world poverty.
IDB - The main source of multilateral lending for Latin America and the Caribbean.