Press Releases

Port of Spain (June 21, 2012) – The Secretariat of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) is part of the coordinating organisations which will be hosting a Training Seminar on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Guarantees Support Systems on July 9th and 10th, 2012.

The Directorate of Trade Development and External Economic Relations of the ACS is partnering with the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA), Ibero American Guarantee Network (REGAR) and the Trinidad and Tobago International Finance Centre to examine the various guarantees support mechanisms that exist within the Region, which are responsible for the technical and financial support needed for the establishment and advancement of SMEs

Participation in this seminar is expected from Public and Private sector representatives from ACS Member and Associate Member Countries, Regional Financial Institutions, as well as SME Institutions and entrepreneurs of the Greater Caribbean, with the main objective to educate and empower the business sectors in the Region.

Building upon experience gained at the Regional Forum: “Access to Credit and Financing for SMEs” held in Jamaica in December 2009, this training seminar, which is an integral component of the Work Programme of the Directorate of Trade, aims to encourage the development of new institutional and instrumental initiatives for guarantees and financing SMEs in the region and promote the training of officials and businessmen on the creation and implementation of guarantee systems at the request of Member States.

The seminar is guaranteed to be quite informative as the list of speakers includes a range of experts on the topic from high level stakeholders such as the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Caribbean Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (CASME), the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) among others.

The ACS stands committed to fostering regional growth and integration via this initiative as we seek to develop alternatives to sustainable economic growth and development.

For further information please visit http://www.acs-aec.org/index.php?q=events/2012/training-seminar-on-smes… or http://www.sela.org/view/index.asp?ms=258&pageMs=26403&item_id=100931