The International Trade Centre, ITC, and the Caribbean Development Bank, CDB, have announced that they are scaling up their partnership to strengthen support for businesses across the Caribbean region.

During a meeting at the CDB's Barbados headquarters, bank president Dr William Warren Smith and ITC Executive Director Arancha Gonz·lez signed a partnership agreement which confirms ITC as one of the CDB's key partners for the implementation of trade-led development projects in the Caribbean.

While having collaborated on a number of projects for several years, it is the first time that the two organisations have formalised a partnership agreement.

"This agreement represents the ITC and CDB's shared vision for sustainable economic development in the bank's borrowing member countries. Through this framework, we look forward to working collaboratively with the ITC to implement innovative projects that will boost competitiveness and productivity, especially for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises," said Smith.

Gonzalez said the CDB has a track record of investing in projects that have an impact on people and businesses across the Caribbean, and with this agreement, "the ITC and the CDB will be able to ensure that more micro, small, and medium-size enterprises are empowered to realise their potential and tap into regional and global value chains".

As a first step in the new partnership, the two organisations will explore and identify priority sectors and priority countries for interventions.

Previous collaboration between the ITC and the CDB has resulted in successful projects in several countries and has covered areas including agriculture. One such example is the creation of a trade information portal for The Bahamas, which has enabled exporters to better take advantage of opportunities in foreign markets.

CMC