Best: Region can be model for resilience
The Caribbean must grasp its chance to become a global model for resilience, by tapping into opportunities in renewable energy, trade, youth development, and innovation.
Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) president Daniel Best said the institution’s 56th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors, scheduled for Nassau, The Bahamas from June 1 to 5, will explore how the region can progress in these and other important areas, with partnerships at the core of the effort, considering that “the decade ahead of us is one of the most consequential periods in modern history”.
He was speaking in Nassau last Thursday during the official launch of the annual meeting which has the theme Forging The Caribbean’s Future: Strategic Solutions For Uncertain Times.
He was joined by chair of the CDB Board of Governors and Minister of Economic Affairs of The Bahamas Senator Michael Halkitis, who said the meeting would “provide an important platform for our region’s leaders and partners to come together, exchange ideas and chart a path forward”.
In his remarks, Best said that “the decisions we make going forward about energy, economic diversification, climate resilience and institutional strengthening will determine whether our region simply just survives or unlocks its full potential in a rapidly changing world”.
He said that while for many years, the global narrative has focused on the vulnerabilities, small economies, exposure to climate shocks and limited fiscal space, that was not the region’s whole story.
“We are a region rich in renewable energy potential. We sit at the crossroads along some of the world’s most important trade routes. We have a young and talented population connected to diaspora networks that span every major economy, and we are a region that has learned, often through necessity, how to adapt, innovate and rebuild in the face of disruption,” Best said.
Increasingly complex environment
“In other words, we in the Caribbean have the potential to become a global model for resilience, but potential alone does not determine the future. What matters most are the decisions we make to unlock it, and that is precisely why this moment matters.”
The CDB president said the annual meeting was
coming “at a moment when the global environment in which the Caribbean operates is becomingly, becoming increasingly complex, and in recent weeks, we have once again seen how quickly global volatility reaches our shores”.
He mentioned rising oil prices driven by geopolitical tensions that immediately affected electricity costs, transportation and the price of food – shocks which “can quickly translate into household realities”.
This challenging period was one providing “a strategic moment for the Caribbean, an opportunity for our leaders, governments, development institutions, private sector, youth and institutional partners and international partners to come together to identify practical solutions that can help the region navigate uncertainty while unlocking the opportunities that lie ahead”.
Best said the annual meeting’s agenda was designed “to focus on actionable ideas that governments, private sector partners and development institutions can implement”.
Halkitis said that recent geopolitical tensions, including the conflict in the Middle East, “have further highlighted the fleeting nature of global stability”.
The minister committed to working with the CDB on five key areas of priority – strengthening climate and disaster Resilience, accelerating the transition to sustainable energy, promoting inclusive economic growth through private sector development, investing in human capital and opportunities for youth, and reinforcing strong governance and institutional capacity across the region.
“The bank’s capital expansion and strengthened financial capacity will also be critical in mobilising the resources needed to support these transformative investments,” he said. (SC)
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