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The Barbados Advocate
Monday, June 24, 2013 Monday, June 24, 2013 |
International commercial banks with a presence in the Caribbean have been urged to be true partners to the government and people of the islands in which they operate.
Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Perry Christie, made this appeal as he addressed the first CIBC FirstCaribbean Infrastructure Conference on Thursday at The Atlantis Resort in The Bahamas. The event brought together representatives from government and government agencies, multilateral institutions, financial advisors, developers and investors to discuss strategies in pursuing private-public partnerships.
“I need to have [banks] demonstrate they do have confidence in The Bahamas; [that] they are not just here to make money out of The Bahamas and then repatriate it to someplace outside,” he emphasised. “That there is the understanding that we are partners in development and that the people of The Bahamas and the banks and their bases here can find the way to institutionalise the relationship and partnership where the country can be advanced.
He later insisted, “While the Government must necessarily play a pivotal role going forward, I do believe that there is a critical need for involvement ofthe private sector in the further development of our economy and society which, in many respects, can be characterised as a social responsibility.
CIBC describes infrastructure as a “core business” globally and the bank has received several awards for its work in infrastructure and project finance. This month, CIBC was once again named as the strongest bank in Canada and North America and the third strongest bank in the world by Bloomberg Markets Magazine. Since 2006, CIBC has been the majority shareholder, with a 91.5 per cent stake in CIBC FirstCaribbean, the largest, regionally-listed bank in the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean.
This is an excerpt from The Barbados Advocate as it appeared on June 24, 2013. For updates or to read the current version of this post in its entirety, please click here.
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