BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – TOURISM Minister Senator Richard ‘Ricky’ Skerritt will tomorrow (June 6) be among more than a dozen ministers of government, including a premier and a chief minister from the Caribbean, for the second annual Caribbean Now Power Forum in New York City.
The minister’s attendance at the Forum was made public via a release from the Communications Office of the Prime Minister.
According to a CaribPR Wire communiqué, the investment breakfast, a partnership between digital media company, Hard Beat Communications and the Caribbean Tourism Organisation, the regional tourism arm, is set for the Astor Ballroom of the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, New York City on June 6th from 7:30 to 10 a.m.
In addition to Minister Skerritt, who is the Chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation, others scheduled to attend the Forum include Dr. Daniel Orlando Smith, OBE, Premier and minister of finance and tourism of the British Virgin Islands; Chief Minister Government of Anguilla, Minister of Finance, Economic Development, Investment, Commerce & Tourism, Hubert Hughes; Minister of Business Development and Tourism of Bermuda, Wayne Furbert; Minister of Tourism & Civil Aviation of The Bahamas, Obe Wilchcombe; Minister of Tourism, Sports and Culture of St. Vincent & Grenadines, Cecil Mckie; Minister of Tourism of St. Maarten, Romeo Pantophlet; Minister of Ministry of State of Jamaica, Damion Crawford; Minister of Tourism, Heritage, Culture and Creative Industries of St. Lucia, Lorne Theophilus; Minister of Tourism of Trinidad and Tobago, Rupert Theophilus Griffith; Minister of Tourism of Haiti, Stephanie Balmir-Villedrouin; Ministry of Tourism & Civil Aviation of Grenada, Dr. George Vincent; acting Minister of Tourism of Guyana, Irfaan Ali; Luis Gerardo Rivera Marin, current Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company and Alain Richardson, President of the Collectivity of St. Martin.
The communiqué stated that the organisers of Invest Caribbean Now 2012 would also honour world renowned business leader Sir Richard Branson with the 2012 Leadership Award for his commitment to the Caribbean via the launch of his Branson Center of Entrepreneurship - Caribbean.
Additionally, the communiqué noted that the forum comes as Chinese investment in the Caribbean continues to boom in this free trade emerging market economy that is politically stable and boosts a highly literate work force and an established tourism market, and which the International Monetary Fund and World Bank forecast will see a 3.5 percent growth into 2013, higher than the economies of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and similar to those of East Asia.
