BCCI Announces Key Partnership in Economic Development Project

The Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry is pleased to announce its participation as a key partner in a project action entitled “Promoting Economic Development through European and Caribbean Partnership.

Your Chamber is one of three Intermediary Organizations (IOs)in the Caribbean (the others are the Small Business Association of Barbados and the Chamber of Commerce of the Dominican Republic) selected to benefit from the extensive capacity building initiatives under the project.

In specific terms, the action aims to contribute to the development of the private sector in the three Caribbean countries through the capacity building initiatives of their intermediary organizations. Interventions contemplate a synergistic typology of activities including international meetings focused on public/private dialogue, technical assistance and training, study visits, organization of sector business meetings and networking. The expected results of the action include:

• Improved dialogue between public and private sector in the field of planning actions for economic promotion and attraction of investment;
• Increased capacity of IO to act as counterparts of local public institutions in charge of planning the economic promotion and investment attraction in the Caribbean area;
• Increased capacity of the IO to provide services to their members and to relevant stakeholders.
• Development of a working network among Caribbean and EU IOs

The EUR 696,000 project is directed by Agenzia di Promozione Economica della Toscana (APET) – Toscana Promozione, the official Export Promotion and Investment Attraction agency of the Tuscan Region of Italy and includes partners from Spain, Greece, Belgium and Germany. Activities began in May of this year and are expected to last for the next eighteen months.