The High-Level Regional Roundtable on the WTO Investment Facilitation for Development Negotiations: Perspectives from Caribbean Economies, co-organized by the International Trade Centre (ITC), the German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), the Shridath Ramphal Centre (SRC) of The University of the West Indies’ Cave Hill Campus (The UWI Cave Hill) in Barbados, and the World Economic Forum (WEF), in the framework of the Investment Facilitation for Development project, jointly implemented by ITC and DIE will take place on 24 February 2021, from 10:00 am to 12:30pm (Barbados, GMT -4) time.

The roundtable is meant to offer a platform for strategic exchange on the WTO negotiations on investment facilitation for development among a selected group of high-level policy makers, government officials, private sector representatives and eminent academic scholars, focused on Caribbean economies. The event will provide an opportunity to reflect on the value-added of a WTO framework on investment facilitation for development. Such a reflection process will help participants to ensure that their countries’ international engagement is in line with their sustainable development strategies and in line with their national and regional reform agendas.

The roundtable will provide a brief background on the progress of the WTO negotiations on investment facilitation for development and provide a platform for an exchange of the views and the interests of Caribbean economies in these negotiations. The roundtable will focus on the value-added of a WTO Investment Facilitation Framework for Development for Caribbean economies, the main challenges and concerns that ought to be taken into consideration in these negotiations, especially as they relate to sustainable FDI and sustainable development.

The objective is to facilitate awareness raising, joint learning and capacity building among participants. A report will distil key policy recommendations from the discussions at the roundtable.

Although the roundtable is focused on the WTO Investment Facilitation for Development negotiations from the Caribbean economies perspective, the event will address issues that will be of interest to investment promotion agencies and policy makers outside the region.

The Roundtable will be held under the Chatham House Rule to facilitate open and results-oriented discussions. The programme including the speakers’ bios is available here.