“Our presence here today at the launch of the Tobago Export Development Programme is testament to the Government’s commitment and efforts to diversify the economy with more sustainable activities. There are several excellent but often underutilized services offered by ExporTT and the Ministry of Trade and Industry available to help grow business and trade which our entrepreneurs need to exploit.” Speaking at the Launch of exporTT Limited’s Tobago Export Development Programme on Friday 2 February, 2018 at the Victor E Bruce Financial Complex, Scarborough, Tobago, Senator the Honourable Paula Gopee-Scoon, Minister of Trade and Industry lauded the collaborative efforts of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) and exporTT Limited which she said “has afforded Tobago businesses this capacity building opportunity to expand their businesses and in the longer term increase their contribution to the economy through export”.
Minister Gopee-Scoon indicated that “the Tobago Export Development Programme will create prospects for entrepreneurs operating in Tobago while also contributing to broader national strategies for expanding the trading environment. These objectives will be accomplished through the delivery of various capacity building modules and a system of facilitation created to lend continued support to participants. Business persons here in Tobago, will benefit from business coaching and mentorship, facilitative workshops, group review sessions and access to business tools and resources. Programme beneficiaries will also be provided with access to exporTT marketing opportunities, business to business initiatives and services as well training under the exporTT’s Competitiveness Project which supports plans guiding continued export development”.
Assemblyman Joel Jack, Deputy Chief Secretary and Secretary of Finance and the Economy at the Tobago House of Assembly in addressing the audience congratulated participants and facilitators on their efforts and also encouraged all to continue the mutually beneficial partnership to ensure the attainment of shared objectives.
Also delivering Remarks at the launch were Mr. Dietrich Guichard, CEO exporTT Ltd and Dr. Cyril Collier Director at exporTT who both reiterated the commitment of state enterprise to include Tobago’s entrepreneurs in the programmatic work of exporTT while continuing to create opportunities while building the export capacity of local business persons.