At the recently concluded 3rd coordination meeting of the PROFIT Programme held in Montego Bay, July 13th -14th, it was confirmed that, of the more than 200 expressions of interest submitted, 109 Caribbean investments opportunities were selected for the PRO€INVEST sponsored Partnership Meeting (PM) scheduled for October 5-8th in Jamaica.Êuccessful projects will be presented to potential investment and business partners from the European Union (EU) and third countries as well as prospective Caribbean partners under the PROFIT Programme initiative.

PROFIT is being organised within the framework of EU-ACP Investment Promotion Programme - PRO€INVEST - which is managed by the Centre for the Development of Enterprise. This event is organised in collaboration with the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA), CARICOM, the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and the International Hotel and Restaurant Associations (IH&RA).

The selection panel pointed out that the selection criteria were transparent and rigorous. The main project characteristics examined were quality of the project, quality of the project documentation, company size (turnover), size of investment, promoter’s contribution, company standing, and environmental/employment/innovative focus. The eligible project promoters will now be invited to the PROFIT event in Jamaica in October where over 300 participants are expected to gather for the event. In addition to project promoters, invitations are going out to European and third country investors, corporations and investment agencies.

Approximately 100 companies and professional associations from the EU and third countries such as the US are expected to participate. From the Caribbean, the top corporations, financial institutions, and EU companies doing business in the region are also being invited. Ministers of Tourism and investment promotion agencies and intermediary organisations will play a vital role in promoting investment in the regional tourism sector.

The meeting pointed out that those unsuccessful projects are not to be ignored, but with the assistance of the national investment promotion agencies, will be provided assistance in strengthening their submissions where possible for the next round of the Partnership Meeting, scheduled for April/May 2005.

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Event Planners are expecting this pioneering initiative to help to accelerate investment in the vital tourism sector in the Caribbean Region, as well as to create a modality for attracting EU and other investors. The stated plan is for the experience and learning from this first Partnership Meeting to be instructive in designing the second one, to be held in 2005 as an integral part of the Caribbean Hotel Association’s Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Investment Conference (CHTIC). The overall rationale is to achieve sustainability in the investment promotion efforts of the Region as a strategy to encourage continued development of the tourism sector.
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