BRUSSELS, Belgium, November 25, 2010 - The Embassy of Grenada to the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community will jointly host the first Grenada Investment symposium in Brussels next month.
The December 14 event will be taking place at a critical time in the economic life of Grenada, as the country seeks to attract Foreign Direct Investment to help cushion the effects of the domestic economic downturn which accompanied the global economic crisis, according to Grenada’s Ambassador to the Kingdoms of Belgium, Netherlands and the European Union, Stephen Fletcher.
The symposium will be held under the theme, “Grenada - A Spicy Investment Opportunity Awaits you, and will take place at the Softiel Hotel in Brussels.
According to Ambassador Fletcher, the theme was deliberately chosen as it seeks to maintain and promote the Grenada brand, as the “SPICE ISLAND.”
“The destruction caused by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 to the spice industry has the potential of diminish Grenada’s global brand as the “spice country”, since the production and export of the spices, particularly nutmeg have declined significantly,” said Fletcher. Therefore the theme selected aims to reinforce the brand in the market place, he added.
The main objectives of the symposium are to encourage and attract European Foreign Investment to Grenada; promote Grenada as preferred investment destination in the Caribbean; inform and educate the investment community in Brussels on the benefits of investing in Grenada and to highlight the generous fiscal and other incentives which are available to investors in Grenada.
The symposium targets investors, investment institutions, and investment support institutions, such as the Centre for the Development Enterprises, and the European Investment Bank.
Investment representatives from Grenada would provide participants with an overview of the investment climate on the island and the available opportunities in such areas as financial services; oil and gas; alternative energy; maritime transport; health and wellness; information communication technology; manufacturing; infrastructure (road construction, telecommunications, etc); agriculture, fisheries and agri-business; research and development in various sectors and creative industry.
The Grenada delegation, comprising public and private sector officials, will also include the Director for Private Sector Development in the Ministry of Finance, Christopher De Riggs and Ronald Theodore of the Grenada Industrial Development Corporation. A number of local private investors are also expected to attend the symposium.
The staging of the symposium comes on the heels of a report by the Doing Business 2011 that Grenada was among 10 economies worldwide that most improved their business environment in the past year.
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