PRESS
RELEASES
Sept. 15, 2003
FIRST CARIBBEAN-WIDE
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE FORUM A HUGE SUCCESS
The
first Caribbean Corporate Governance Forum was successfully concluded
on September 5, 2003. Held in St. Kitts at the ECCB headquarters over
the period September 3 - 5, 2003, the Forum attracted over 120 participants
from 16 countries in the Caribbean Basin. Prominent experts from Canada,
India, Malaysia, United Kingdom, the United States of America and the
Caribbean served as facilitators. The Forum was jointly sponsored by
the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB)
and the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange Ltd (ECSE),
in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Caribbean Development
Bank and the Global Corporate Governance Forum (GCGF).
The US-based Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE),
National Commercial Bank of Dominica, RBTT Group, ScotiaBank and St.
Kitts Nevis Anguilla National Bank Ltd (SKNANB)
contributed to the Forum as associate partners.
This
historic Forum accorded the opportunity for our region's participants
to assess developments worldwide and launch what would be the beginnings
of a unified corporate governance movement in the Caribbean Basin. Over
the 3-day period, participants discussed a number of key issues, including:
global trends in corporate governance and its implications for emerging
economies; corporate governance challenges for the Caribbean; corporate
governance from the perspective of institutional investors; role of
governments and businesses in promoting corporate governance; role of
banks; corporate governance issues for non-bank financial institutions;
governance practices in corporations and SMEs; and the role of securities
markets in promoting healthy corporate governance practices.
The
Forum also provided a platform for assessing current corporate governance
activities in participating countries. Perhaps the most important facet
of the program was the establishment of task forces to develop recommendations
coming out of the Forum. Participants convened in 5 different task forces
to formulate a collective view as coming from the following quarters:
a) Central Banks,
Ministries of Finance and other Government Entities,
b) securities
markets and institutional investors,
c) banks,
d) non-bank financial
institutions and
e) industry associations.
Arising
out of the Forum, 20 participants were selected to serve on a Caribbean
Technical Working Group (CTWG) on Corporate Governance. It was also
decided that the existing ECCB/ECSE corporate governance secretariat
would serve as the focal point for roll out of all CTWG activities.
The CTWG set forth a number of priorities, including: a) the development
of a position paper on the Caribbean concept of corporate governance
to be distributed at the upcoming CGCF meeting on Corporate Governance
in Paris in November and b) the implementation of region-wide initiatives
aimed at the development of codes, training initiatives and accreditation/certification
for directors and auditors and public information programs aimed at
building awareness on corporate governance. The secretariat of the CTWG
was charged with the responsibility of exploring with the donor community
the assistance that could be provided to start the rollout of the outlined
priorities.
All
faculty presentations, forum material and background information can
be found on the Forum's web page at: www.ecseonline.com/corporategovernance.asp.
It is the intention to have this page serve as the one-stop point for
all documentation related to corporate governance in the region. All
interested in corporate governance issues are encouraged to visit this
page on a regular basis.
