T&T-Canada hosts seminar for public-private sectors in POS

The Prime Ministers of TT and Canada during Kamla Persad-Bissessar's recent visit to Canada

The Governments of Trinidad and Tobago and Canada have collaborated to organize a Canadian Public-Private Partnership (P3) seminar and business-to-business (B2B) event, to be held June 10-11th, 2013 in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago.

The PPP seminar is being held within the framework of the broader "Caribbean Investment Forum" (CIF), also to be held in Port-of-Spain on the same dates, and is being sponsored by the Government of Trinidad & Tobago. 

The seminar focuses on the “Canadian PPP Model: Best Practices and Lessons Learned”. On both days it will also include B2B private meetings between interested seminar participants.

This initiative has two primary objectives:

• to promote the capabilities of Canadian infrastructure sector firms in the Caribbean region
• to assist governments in the Caribbean region build their own capacity in designing and implementing PPP projects using the Canadian PPP Model, widely recognized for its innovative features and variants

Key speakers will include: 

• Mark Romoff, President and CEO of the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships
• Representatives of:  

1. Export Development Canada (EDC )
2. Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC )
3. the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
4. the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
5. the International Finance Corporation (IFC)
6. speakers from Canadian private sector firms with experience in structuring, bidding on, executing and/or operating public infrastructure projects in Latin America and the Caribbean – whether in traditional civil engineering applications (roads, bridges, etc.) or social infrastructure (hospitals, clinics, schools, colleges, etc.) 

The Canadian delegation also includes representatives of several Canadian companies involved in the development and building of infrastructure both in Canada and internationally.

The two-day event also conforms with recent initiatives by the Government of Canada, through the Canadian International Development Agency, to promote greater private sector participation in development projects and infrastructure financing worldwide. 

The PPP event is thus a great opportunity for Canadian companies and partners in the Caribbean region to meet and discuss prospective PPP projects in individual markets of the Caribbean, as well as general PPP trends throughout the region.