From South Florida Caribbean News

BELIZE – Twelve Caribbean countries endorsed today (March 1st) a joint communique to move forward on their pro-growth agenda.

“This event is an important milestone for member countries of the Caribbean Growth Forum. Together with our partner institutions, the World Bank is fully committed to support the sustainable development agenda that many Caribbean nations are pursuing and to identify innovative solutions that will generate growth, competitiveness and job creation,” said the World Bank Country Director for the Caribbean, Sophie Sirtaine. “This initiative provides a real platform for Caribbean nations to accelerate progress made on reform actions and foster greater focus on results, transparency and accountability”.

Caribbean countries renewing commitment to sustainable growth

Anguilla, Belize, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Suriname and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

New milestone for the Caribbean Growth Forum

We, the representatives of the countries engaged in the Caribbean Growth Forum initiative, reaffirm our commitment to shape a new agenda for sustainable and inclusive growth in the Caribbean.
We welcome the results accomplished in Phase I of the Caribbean Growth Forum and are committed to building on those results to enhance the competitiveness of our respective countries.
We recognize the importance of considering each country’s specificities and needs as we implement national roadmaps for reforms.
We reaffirm our commitment to shape national and regional reforms and to help track the implementation of actions launched to spur sustainable growth, create jobs and ensure shared prosperity.
We recognize that the Caribbean Growth Forum provides an important platform for regional reforms to be implemented, and where regional peer-to-peer learning and access to global good practices is essential to foster innovation.
To address the common challenges faced by Caribbean countries, we commit to further engage in an inclusive and transparent dialogue with key public and private partners as well as the civil society. More regular engagement with all Caribbean stakeholders will help focus on results and deliver on agreed actions outlined in country roadmaps.
We firmly believe that coordination mechanisms within government need to be strengthened in each country to ensure consistent monitoring and engagement with stakeholders.
We consider that accountability mechanisms present a unique way of defining reforms clearly, with realistic timelines and associated performance indicators. As such, we underline the need for more systematic planning and feedback mechanisms to inform policy making and help assess the impact of identified reforms.
We also believe that to maximize sustainability, the Caribbean Growth Forum should be further anchored in local and regional institutions.
We welcome the Caribbean Growth Forum Working Group recommendations to review and refine existing reforms under the three thematic areas of Investment Climate; Skills and Productivity; and, Logistics and Connectivity. Each reform actions should have specific and measurable milestones, and the CGF will provide a framework and facilitate the review process. In this context, we recognize the need to also respond to emerging priorities.
Starting now, we affirm our commitment to deliver regular progress reports from the agreed national and regional roadmaps in line with existing national reporting mechanisms and to make these reports publicly available.
Finally, we welcome the coordination, facilitation and advisory support provided by the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Caribbean Development Bank in moving our pro-growth reform agendas forward.

IMAGE: Sophie Sirtaine, World Bank Country Director for the Caribbean

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