Tobago establishes P3 links in Canada

The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) has made significant strides in Canada towards the formation of public-private partnerships (P3) to develop the island.

So says, Deputy Chief Secretary and Secretary of Finance and the Economy Joel Jack, as he recently returned home having led a Tobago delegation to Toronto, Canada for the 27th annual national conference on public-private partnerships, hosted by the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships from November 17-22.

Jack said the Canadian Council is recognised as the premier event in the public partnership world and afforded the assembly an excellent opportunity to continue to network and liaise with the P3 decision makers and companies who are involved in executing public-private partnerships globally.

“This event is in its 27th year and the conference hosted over 1,200 senior government and private sector officials, making it the largest gathering of P3 decision makers globally,” Jack said.

The theme was "groundbreaking partnerships" and included discussions across the spectrum of a variety of P3 projects as well as best practices from Canada and other leaders in the field.

“I led this mission accompanied by a team from the investment and public-private partnership unit in the division (of finance and economy).

“Let me say, that we continue to liaise with a number of professionals and this conference provided an opportunity that would be the catalyst to build on our current momentum, as we seek to discuss the practicality for P3’s for assembly projects and the economic imperative of leveraging private sector financing and expertise for public infrastructure investment here in Tobago."