SELA ORGANIZES A WORKSHOP ON PUBLIC POLICIES FOR SMES IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

Caracas, August 19, 2014.- The Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA), along with the government Trinidad and Tobago, conducts a regional workshop on public policies for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) until today 19 August 2014.

The workshop is being conducted in Port of Spain with the support of the Ministry of Employment, Micro and Small-sized Enterprises of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), which provides logistical support and its headquarters as the venue for the event.

Those activities include: Regional Training Workshops on public policies for SMEs; a Meeting on Caribbean export consortiums; a Seminar-Workshop on productive coordination in Latin America and the Caribbean; a Regional Workshop on Development of Handicrafts SMEs; a Seminar on credit guarantee systems in the Caribbean; a Seminar on promotion of innovation to improve competitiveness of SMEs; a Seminar on the garment industry and economic development in the Caribbean; a Meeting on institutional strengthening of SMEs business associations; and a Meeting of SMEs entrepreneurs from Latin America and the Caribbean.

The opening session of the workshop in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, speakers included representatives of the ACS, SELA and the Government of the host country.

Afterwards, there was a session focused on describing public policies for SMEs and their importance for the development of the sector. Then presentations will be made on public policies in the field of SMEs in countries of the region: Trinidad and Tobago, Bahamas, Barbados and Haiti.

The following session will include analyses of policies to promote SMEs by representatives of the ACS, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). Then, representatives of Jamaica, Belize, Suriname and Guyana will make presentation on public policies on SMEs.

There will also be a session dedicated to productive coordination policies and other public policies for SMEs, as well as the development of entrepreneurship and internationalization of SMEs.

SELA has carried out several events in various Member States, such as seminars, workshops and specific courses linked to the design of public policies to support SMEs, entrepreneurship, innovation and a variety of topics, where the issue of public policies has been dealt with. It has also conducted studies aimed at identifying best practices as regards the public policies applied in the region.

The Permanent Secretary of SELA, Ambassador Roberto Guarnieri, pointed out that one of the priority areas of the Work Programme of SELA for 2014 is economic and technical cooperation as a way to contribute to regional development and integration. Within this area, eleven activities have been foreseen as part of the Latin American and Caribbean Programme for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SELA-SMEs Programme).

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