Regional Capacity Building Workshop to Enhance Services Exports

Marriott Resort, St. Kitts, 30 November – 2 December 2010

Background

Over the past 5 years, the Trade Section of Commonwealth Secretariat’s Special Advisory Services Division (SASD) has supported 18 Member States to formulate strategies aimed at enhancing export of professional services .

The countries include 8 in the Caribbean; 6 in Africa; 4 in Europe and Asia. In addition, the Section has in the past, organised 2 conferences to provide a platform for Member States to learn, network and share experiences. These were in 2008 (Malaysia) and in 2010 (Mauritius). The Trade Section has recently embarked on a series of regional workshops to support Member countries address implementation related issues.

This workshop – for the Caribbean region- was open to all Member States and aimed to take stock of the implementation of various strategies developed to enhance professional services in the region. In Antigua and Barbuda, assistance was provided to formulate a Trade Diversification Strategy. Marketing plans were developed under the auspices of Caribbean Export Development Agency (CEDA) for Barbados, Dominica, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago. Strategic Plans have been also formulated for Guyana, Jamaica and Belize. Further, sectoral assessments have been carried out in St. Lucia (Medical Education) and will commence shortly in Jamaica (Medical Tourism).