Cariforum countries analyze how to add value
The size of an economy is not an obstacle to add value to its production of goods and services through innovation, said national authorities and representatives of ten CARIFORUM countries during the first International Seminar on Development of Caribbean Innovation Systems.
The meeting was held at the Hotel Jaragua under the auspices of the European Union, through the General Directorate of Multilateral Cooperation (DIGECOOM) of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development and the National Competitiveness Council, of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (MEPyD), with the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) and Caribbean Export Development Agency as organizers.
Representatives of public agencies, international organizations and private sector companies discussed lines of action to articulate innovation systems in the 15 members of CARIFORUM: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica , Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
Another issue that was discussed was how countries can take greater advantages to trade agreements, such as the Economic Association Agreement (EPA), signed between the CARIFORUM countries and the European Union, since the region's participation in the world market descends from 1980, going from an 0.5% of total world trade to less than an 0.2% in 2006. Through the EPA, the region has access to more than 40 trillions of euros in assistance for innovation.
One of the tangible examples that innovation is a way to obtain more participation in the international market, is Singapore, a small island state of Asia, of just 710 square kilometers, but one of the most competitive. Singapore occupies the 3 position in the Global Competitiveness Index of 2009-2010, while the Dominican Republic occupies the 95, below Barbados (44 position) and Trinidad and Tobago (86 position), according to some speakers.
The opening ceremony was led by Domingo Jiménez, General Director of Multilateral Cooperation and National Computer of the FED of the country, Ambassador Irene Horejs, Head of the Delegation of the European Union in the Dominican Republic, Willys Ramírez Díaz, Ambassador Deputy Secretary of the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORO), Andrés Van Der Horst, Executive Director of the National Competitiveness Council of the Dominican Republic (CNC), Rosalyn E. Hazelle, President of the Caribbean Agency for the Development of Exports (Caribbean Export) and Miguel Escala , rector of Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC).