BDC and eTeck to be restructured: Trade Minister

The Government of Trinidad and Tobago is restructuring the Business Development Company (BDC) and EtecK.

And Trade and Industry Minister Stephen Cadiz predicted significant economic growth for the country within the next 12 months as a result of current proposals for developing and improving trade.

Cadiz was speaking Tuesday at a meting of the American Chamber of Commerce at the Trinidad Hilton.

Cadiz said the two state agencies, which were set up to manage trade and help develop the country's economy, are under review because they have not been carrying out their mandates effectively.

"In this connection, the Board of EtecK has begun the realignment of the functioning of that Agency and the Board of the BDC has also embarked on a similar initiative," Cadiz said. 

"We are looking at all the different agencies that fall under the Ministry of Trade and Industry and again, we have EtecK, the BDC, and Freezone Company. Freezone Company, if you remember, we remove the cap in this year's budget of the US$50 million cap," he added.

Cadiz said the partnership involving the public and private sectors is an encouraging model that the Government is using as a foundation to formulate policy.

He said while Government's role is to facilitate trade and investment, it is just as important for the private sector to take a leading role in penetrating new markets and pursuing new investment opportunities with other countries.

He said when you add Central American to Colombia and Venezuela there are potentially 80 million customers to serve. 

"So it is absolutely critical that we create those very strong trading links and of course, trade links come with air and sea connections which again, have been a major problem. The typical connection goes North-South. There are very few of them that go East-West," Cadiz declared.