In April 2004, PROå€INVEST will hold a partnership meeting for the Caribbean tourism sector in co-operation with the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA). The Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), the World Tourism Travel Council (WTTC) and the International Hotel and Restaurant Association (IH&RA) will also be associated in the organisation of this event. This partnership meeting will be held in conjunction with the 8th Annual Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference. The host country for this event will be selected during the coming weeks.
The preparation of the event includes a study of the investment opportunities in the tourism sector in the Caribbean and the identification, selection and preparation of projects likely to attract investors from EU. Investors from central and northern America will be also mobilised.

The study will be launched during October 2003; the identification of Caribbean projects and EU and third country potential partners will start in November 2003; the final selection of projects and potential partners will be made in January 2004.

The organisers expect up to 500 participants from the Caribbean, the EU, central and northern America to attend this Meeting, which will offer them a platform to discuss their projects and to negotiate partnership agreements.  The meeting is expected to generate a number of co-operation agreements between companies from the Caribbean and outside the region.

Following the event, some 30 to 50 company projects demonstrating sound development potential will receive additional assistance from the PRO€INVEST Programme to support the successful implementation of the projects.

PRO€INVEST is a programme of the Group of ACP States and the European Commission for the promotion of investment and technology transfer to the ACP countries, and operates through: the strengthening of ACP intermediary and professional organisations and support to the development of company partnerships. Its management has been entrusted to a Management Unit within the Centre for the Development of Enterprise (CDE) under the supervision of the EuropeAid Office of the European Commission.

 

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