Business View Caribbean | October 2022

4 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 9, ISSUE 10 The global challenges we face are immense and require unprecedented levels of investment across the globe region’s post-pandemic economic recovery in a very impactful manner,” he added. Meanwhile, he explained that €100 million will be dedicated to the Caribbean Green and Inclusive Recovery Programme, which is intended to improve access and affordability of financing for small-scale green projects in the region through investments by small and medium-sized enterprises. The hope is for the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and other regional development and commercial banks to act as intermediaries. “The global challenges we face are immense and require unprecedented levels of investment across the globe. This was already true before the pandemic and it becomes ever more the case as the war rages on in Ukraine,” he said. Mourinho Félix, who is in Bridgetown this week for the joint EU-CARIFORUM Ministerial meeting as part of his first mission to the Caribbean, told Barbados TODAY the programmes will include technical assistance and investment grants, as well as monitoring systems to ensure the projects are implemented. He gave the assurance that the funding was being provided for projects that will have an impact on the lives of the population. “When it comes to intermediated funding, we work with our counterparts such that we ensure the projects are dedicated to people and they have the features that are necessary and we work together to ensure that these programmes have the features that people demand. “If you do a programme that is not in demand by the people it will be ineffective, but for us, the effectiveness is very important . It is not just about bringing millions of dollars to the Caribbean, it is about having the impacts that the amount of funds can bring to the citizens . . . we are guided by the impacts in people’s lives,” he said. Mourinho Félix, who has oversight for the Caribbean region, said he believed the key issue for the region at this point was to improve economic growth and improve the quality of life of residents. He added that the level of urgency for building more climate resilient infrastructure in the region was increasing. “I think making the countries more resilient to extreme climate events is of the essence,” he said. “If we continue on this path of climate change there is an existential threat for the Caribbean because of the rising seawater levels. It is our duty to protect such a beautiful place in the world and what we can do is to provide the means so that the people of the Caribbean can develop their countries and build infrastructures for the future while getting more connected with the rest of the world,” he said.