HAVANA - Senior officials, investors and business leaders from the UAE and the Caribbean Countries have discussed the investment opportunities in the new economies, in a business session organised by Investopia, the global investment platform on the 15th of November 2022, during the Investment Forum at Havana International Fair in Cuba.

Investopia session, titled ‘Business Opportunities in the Caribbean', comes at an important juncture of the UAE and Caribbean countries recent economic ties, since their signed MoU in 2020, which aims at expanding trade and investment flows; promoting investment and tourism; fostering entrepreneurial, scientific, and technological exchanges.

Investopia session has discussed several economic topics, such as growth and partnerships opportunities in the Caribbean countries, and the UAE’s role as a prominent regional hub for global business and investors to grow and prosper, in-country and beyond.

The session has also highlighted the UAE’s pivotal role, as a regional hub well-integrated into the global economy and supply chain, in providing several growth and prosperity corridors for Caribbean countries.

During the event, the role of the Investopia in helping the Caribbean investment community to drive growth in both foreign and domestic investments has been one of the discussed topics among the participants.

The session witnessed the attendance of Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy and Chairman of Investopia; Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz, Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade & Investment; Dr. Eduardo Martínez, President of the Cuban BioCubaFarma group; Dr. Peter Ramsaroop, CEO of Go Invest Guyana; and Kay Sealey, Director of Foreign Trade at the Barbadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade.

Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri commented, “Investopia is an initiative by UAE government, but it was launched to be a global platform. We aspire to make Investopia an investment platform that reflects the dynamic and innovative spirit of the United Arab Emirates on a global level. That is why today we are organising Investopia new economies talks session in Cuba with the aim of consolidating and developing our relations with the countries of the Caribbean.”

Mohamed Naser Al Zaabi, CEO of Investopia said, “Investopia session in Havana International Fair comes in the context of the global talks launched by the platform in several cities such as Cairo, New York, Mumbai, New Delhi, Rabat, and Geneva. Investopia global talks bring together business leaders and policymakers with the aim of channelling investments towards the new economy sectors that currently have a significant impact on the global economy such as healthcare technology, agricultural technology, education, renewable energy, supply chains and logistics.”

Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz said, “The UAE is a country that stands out globally for its presence, as a hub that links the regions and the Emirati capital is present in many investments in all parts of the world. The UAE is very interested in cooperating and stands out for working together with developing countries that are in less favourable situations.”

“This event itself is an example, a sign of the UAE's interest in working with the Caribbean region, where most of the economies are small and vulnerable, very open to foreign trade and dependent on market fluctuations," he added.

“In the specific case of Cuba, there is an interest in continuing to develop relations with the UAE. We are working on projects on issues that are a priority for us, such as renewable energy, we need to continue working together, do it with great audacity, very well directed at the objectives that lie ahead”, Rodrigo Malmierca concluded.

Dr. Peter Ramsaroop said, “Guyana is on an aggressive transformation agenda, becoming the fastest growing economy of the region. Guyana and the UAE are building some great partnerships, and we are looking at the ports of Abu Dhabi for some guidance. The Caribbean as a region is destined for greatness as we come together, if you study just the agriculture sector the Caribbean imports up to 10 billion US dollars just on food from everywhere else than CARICOM. CARICOM leaders have made the decision to solve that by 25% by 2025, so the investment within the region in the agriculture sector with technology is very important to reduce that agriculture bill.”

Kay Sealey said, “Given the current realities in the Caribbean we have seen the impact of Covid-19 where we have experienced supply shortages, issues with logistics, supply chain disruptions, the food crisis. We have many opportunities in the area of agriculture in the Caribbean right now to improve our levels of production security, we are largely import dependent, we are primarily small in size that make us price takers which means that when there are disruptions and challenges in larger jurisdictions the smallest states are usually those who are likely to be adversely impacted.”

“There are opportunities related to production security, research and development, we need to innovate, look at new productions processes, we need to take upon the reality of where we are located, in the hurricane belt, which means that as it relates to production we need to introduce climate friendly processes. There are also opportunities in renewable energy area. I was very happy to hear that the UAE is offering to help in transportation solutions for the Caribbean since moving fresh products in the area is not easy," she added.

Investopia global investment platform is one of the major strategic initiatives under the ‘Projects of the 50’ announced by the UAE government in September 2021 and aims to enhance the exchange of global investment flows in support of sectors of the new economy.

Investopia recently announced the second edition of its annual conference, which will be hosted in Abu Dhabi on 1st and 2nd March, 2023, under the theme ‘envisioning opportunities in times of change'.

Investopia first edition, which took place in March 2022, successfully initiated strategic business dialogues across 12 vital economic sectors.