Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, July 7, 2022. The second day of the Saudi Caribbean Investment Forum, 7 July 2022, saw more than 230 delegates present at the Punta Cana Club with 15 countries presenting their investment ready projects to the largest delegation of Saudi investors to ever come to the Caribbean. The countries presenting opportunities were Antigua & Barbuda, the Dominican Republic, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Curacao, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago. Also present was El Salvador of Central America. The Saudi Caribbean Investment Forum is a collaboration among the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (CAIPA), the Ministry of Investment (MISA) and Prodominicana of the Dominican Republic.
The investment opportunities presented by the territories covered priority sectors for the region including hotel and resort development, financial services, logistics, agriculture and transportation (with a focus on sea and airports) renewable energy, among others.
Insight into the investment opportunities in each country were delivered primarily by the investment promotion agencies of the 15 countries present with interventions from the Ministers of Government who participated in the event. Of note, nine Caribbean Ministers attended the Summit including, the Hon Ruisandro M. Cjintie, Minister of Economic Development, of Curacao, the Hon. H. Charles Fernandez, Ministry of Tourism, Investment and Economic Development, Antigua & Barbuda, Dr. the Hon. William Duguid, Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Infrastructural Projects, Barbados, Hon. Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology, Belize, Hon. Michael Halkitis, Ministry of Economic Affairs, The Bahamas, Senator the Hon. Aubyn Hill, Minister with responsibility for Investment , the Hon. Edmund Bartlett , Minister of Tourism for Jamaica, the Hon. Ito Bisono, Minister of Industry, Commerce and SMEs of the Dominican Republic, Mr. Carlos Peguero, Deputy Minister within the Ministry of Tourism and Mr. Carlos Flaquer, Deputy Minister of Free Zones, from the Dominican Republic.
The more than 60 Saudi companies present at the Summit covered a wide cross section of sectors including energy, construction, hospitality, wealth management, healthcare, food and beverages, banking and finance, petrochemicals, pharmaceutical, legal, aviation, mining and industry and maritime, among others. The delegation of Saudi firms was led by Mr. Badr AlBadr, Deputy Minister for Investor Outreach of the Ministry of Investment for Saudi Arabia and his support team including Mr. Abdulrahman T. Bakir, VP Investment Attraction and Development for the Americas. Also present in the delegation of the Saudis were several government entities including the General Authority for Foreign Trade (GAFT), the Ministry of Tourism, the Federation of the Saudi Chambers, the Saudi Development Fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and the Ministry of Energy (MOE).
The event concluded with more than 4 hours of business to business and government to government meetings, as was the case on the first day of the Summit. The Saudi delegation will make their way to Jamaica and then to Guyana for the hosting of further business meetings. The successful execution of the first Saudi Caribbean Summit has resulted in both parties (the Caribbean and the Saudis) expressing a strong commitment to realise concrete investment deals in the near term, sustaining the momentum that has begun at this forum.
