Published: 03 October 2013

Special Call for Applications for Business Climate Reforms Technical Assistance Grants
5 Jul 2013

The Compete Caribbean Program has approved a US$500,000 facility to support the implementation of high priority reforms (“quick wins”) that emanated from the deliberation of the Caribbean Growth Forum National Chapters. These are grant resources that can fund short term consultancies valuing no more than US$50,000.

To ensure the selection criteria are simple and straightforward, they include:

1.    The consultancy must be directly related to the actions/activities included in a CGF national action plan for the country.
2.    The consultancy should ultimately lead to an improvement in the Ease of Doing Business rankings/improvement in the Global Competitiveness rankings.
3.    The consultancy service/s must be implementable within six months.
4.    The entity requesting the consultancy must be fully committed to facilitate and support the supervision of the consultancy services requested.
5.    Priority will be given to those actions that will be co-funded by the entity requesting support from Compete Caribbean even though this is not a condition for requesting support.

Letters Of Request

To access these resources, please send a Letter of Request (signed by an authorized Government representative – Prime Minister, Minister of Government, Permanent Secretary, Director or equivalent) and copied to the Caribbean Growth Forum national focal point, outlining the objective of the consultancy and the expected impact on the business environment in the country.

Support Template

Letters of Request should be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with “Request for Support under the CGF Facility” in the subject line.

A template for the Letter of Request can be accessed by clicking this link.

To make an attempt at ensuring that all eligible countries have a relatively equal opportunity to benefit from the facility, a first come first serve methodology will be used for the first eligible application received from each country. All subsequent applications from any country already benefiting from the facility will be reviewed and compared across countries after the deadline, at which point those that most closely fit the selection criteria will be financed.

The window for the submission of requests closes @ COB September 30, 2013.

http://www.competecaribbean.org/news/special-call-for-applications-for-business-climate-reforms-technical-assistance-grants

Do you have an innovative idea with the potential to increase exports and create jobs in the Caribbean? Bring it to life!
19 Jun 2013

Submit your proposal to Compete Caribbean between July 1 and September 15, 2013 and compete for up to US$500,000 to develop your idea! We welcome any innovative project, from any economic sector and any size of firm. However all firms must be resident in a CARIFORUM country and be prepared to provide counterpart funding of 50% of the cost of the project (of which up to 50% can be in kind).

Apply Here
http://www.competecaribbean.org/home-slider/eicf-july-2013-call

Published: 03 October 2013

SVG EPA PARTICIPATES IN
WORKSHOP ON GEOGRAPHIC INDICATORS
HELD IN GRENADA

Intellectual Property registrars and other legal advisors for Governments in Caricom territories gathered in St George’s in August to participate in a one week World Intellectual Property Organisation Sub-Regional Training Workshop and Round Table on Geographical Indications and Branding in the Context of the Implementation of the Intellectual Property Provisions of the EC-CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement.

Speakers included Mr. Malcolm Spence, Senior Coordinator, Intellectual Property, Science and Technology Issues, Office of Trade Negotiations, Bridgetown, Barbados; Mr. Paul Regis, Head, Caribbean Unit, Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean; Mr. Vincent Fautrel, Senior Program Coordinator from the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation development program in the CARICOM region and  Policy Adviser to the Minister for Legal Affairs, Mr Robert Branch.

Participants are also expected to discuss Key concepts of origin-linked products and geographical indications;  National/Regional branding; Contributions of trademarks and Geographic Indicators with regards to  development, use, protection, economic value of protection and enforcing and The basics of business strategy and the role of IP in marketing origin-linked products with a strong identity linked to a territory/region.

The one week workshop was held at the Coyaba Hotel conference room and was opened by Minister for Tourism and Culture Hon Alexandria Otway-Noel. The benefits of Geographic Indicators as an Intellectual Property tool has long been used by companies and some states as a means to bring financial rewards, but Grenada and many Caricom nations are yet to put the structures and mechanism in place to take advantage of the financial benefits.

A geographical indication (GI) is a name or sign used on certain products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (e.g. a town, region, or country). The use of a GI may act as a certification that the product possesses certain qualities, is made according to traditional methods, or enjoys a certain reputation, due to its geographical origin.The best case for the region is the impact Blue Mountain coffee has brought to Jamaica not just as an international export product but to its tourism industry.

Like trademarks, geographical indications are regulated locally by each country because conditions of registration such as differences in the generic use of terms vary from country to country. When products with GIs acquire a reputation of international magnitude, some other products may try to pass themselves off as the authentic GI products. This kind of competition is often seen as unfair, as it may discourage traditional producers as well as mislead consumers.

[Information taken from Now Grenada. Copyright © 2013 NOW Grenada.]

Published: 03 October 2013

SVG EPA HELD WORKSHOP ON THE LEVERAGING OF TRADE ARRANGEMENTS

This workshop was the held on the 11th and 12h of June, 2013, for public and private sector stakeholder, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Conference Room. St. Vincent and the Grenadines has signed on to a number of trade agreements that are not being implemented or utilize to their fullest potential. With the establishment of the SVG EPA Implementation Unit, it quickly became apparent that there is a general lack of understanding of the potential opportunities and benefits that can be derived from the implementation of these agreements. Moreover, most government Ministries and Departments and private entities cannot relate these trade agreements with the work and business.

Objective:
1.    To  enhance stakeholders awareness of potential benefits of trade agreements
2.    To identify strategies and modalities for stakeholders to tap in to the potential benefits of Trade Agreements, specifically the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement

The participants benefited from various presentations highlighting both public and private sector opportunities for leveraging trade agreements. Based on the evaluation report, the comments on the workshop was very favourable. Many of the participants found the presentations helpful and left the workshop more informed of the opportunities that they can leverage.

Public Sector Stakeholders

Private Sector Stakeholders