From left: Cayman Islands Minister of Commerce Planning and Infrastructure Joseph Hew, Barbados Minister of the Blue Economy Kirk Humphrey, Prime Minister Romeo-Marlin and KPMG partner and Advisory and Tax head Simon Townend.
NASSAU, Bahamas--Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin was a speaker at the third Caribbean Infrastructure Forum Carif 2018 held in Nassau, Bahamas, on December 4. The two-day forum was designed to catalyse the financing and construction of the infrastructure projects necessary in the Caribbean by bringing together government officials, utility companies and capital financing providers.
The topic of the Ministerial Roundtable centred on the topic of “How are resiliency and climate change issues shaping the evolution of regional policy making?” On the panel with Romeo-Marlin were Cayman Islands Minister of Commerce Planning and Infrastructure Joseph Hew and Barbados Minister of the Blue Economy Kirk Humphrey.
Romeo-Marlin addressed how her government is executing the rebuilding process through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. She told conference attendees the areas that require the most attention in the country are housing, tourism and commerce, governance and public financial management, sanitation and solid waste management, rebuilding the airport/aviation sector, education culture, youth and sport.
Various panellists shared ideas, including the idea of Caribbean countries developing their individual Blue Economy, reducing dependency on fossil fuels and turning to alternatives such as renewable energy and liquefied natural gas (LNG) for power generation.
Public-private partnerships or P3 models were discussed in the session on how financing of large infrastructure projects can benefit governments in the region.
