TT hosts CDB meeting

THIS country will host the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) 49th Annual Board of Governors meeting in June. In addition to Caricom leaders and finance ministers, governors and directors of the bank will also attend the meeting.

A special dimension of the meeting will include a one-day meeting in Tobago to discuss matters which are directly related to Tobago. The announcement was made in a statement issued by the Planning and Development Ministry.

Planning and Development Minister Camille Robinson-Regis is the designated chair of the meeting and a governor on the CDB’s board of governors. Some 400 delegates are expected to attend the meeting. Among them will be prime ministers and government ministers from the CDB’s 19 borrowing member countries (BMC). June 3 to 6 are the proposed dates for the four-day meeting.

Robinson-Regis said the meeting was happening at a time when the CDB had projected regional economic growth for nearly all BMC’s at an average rate of two per cent for 2019, up from 1.8 per cent growth for most BMCs, including TT in 2018. According to the CDB, increasing growth rates are projected for Guyana; Suriname; and TT, driven by developments in the energy sectors.Tourism development, construction, agriculture and business services will drive growth in most other BMCs. The aim for TT is to capitalise on the projected growth from developments in the energy sector to support the continued growth of the other economic sectors, therefore, strengthening our economic transformation drive.

Robinson-Regis also said TT’s participation in the meeting was an opportunity for the country to further strengthen the alliances with our regional partners in order to build on each other’s strengths to continue driving growth in the region.