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Jamaica Hosts Think-tank on Innovation and Entrepreneurship

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica is playing host to a two-day think-tank conference involving nearly 40 young Caribbean leaders, which is aimed at identifying solutions to burning Caribbean challenges.

The Jamaica conference, which will be held on February 25 and February 26 in Kingston, is the second follow up discussion by Wilton Park, an executive agency of the United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in its Wilton Park Caribbean 2030 series.

The first held was in June 2015 and focused on several matters, including, growth, security, fiscal management, governance and effectiveness of public and private sector leadership, as well as emerging challenges such as climate change.

Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston, Jamaica

The Jamaica talks, which was organised by the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI), in collaboration with the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) Foundation, Continental Bakery and the Caribbean Council, will centre on the theme: “New Thinking for a New Generation II: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Jamaica.”

In a release posted on its website, Wilton Park said “the follow-up meeting will focus on specific questions and identify the next steps that are needed and how the next generation of leadership can lead the necessary follow-up actions to embrace and affect a new vision of the Caribbean.”

Against that background, the objectives of the Jamaica conference are to enable participants to transform their aspirations to action; focus talks on mainly economic related issues that will allow the region to prosper; and facilitate intra-regional cross fertilization of expertise and ideas for the future.

In this vein, the discussions over the two-day period will focus on the topics:
▪ Financing for the future which encapsulates balancing risks with enterprise;
▪ Trade within and beyond the region;
▪ IT Infrastructure and transport;
▪ Green growth and sustainability;
▪ Education and skills training; and
▪ Access to data.

The conference is being attended by representatives from the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Barbados, Cuba, Turks and Caicos, Trinidad and Tobago, St Vincent and the Grenadines and several other countries in the Caribbean.

South Florida Caribbean News

The SFLCN.com Team provides news and information for the Caribbean-American community in South Florida and beyond.

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