The Virgin Islands will soon launch an investment promotions agency called BVI Invest, which will work to attract foreign investment to the territory, leaders announced.
BVI Invest will be part of the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies, a network of similar governmental departments across the region.
Junior Minister for Trade and Economic Development Sharie de Castro announced the agency’s creation on Monday during a five-day course held this week in the VI to train regional governments on methodologies for investment project formulation and appraisal, capacity building, technical assistance, networking, and support in adopting investment best practices.
The training, which she said would “benefit governments across the region” was held in collaboration with CAIPA and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation.
The course focuses on the internationally accepted methodologies of the UNIDO, which include the Computer Model for Feasibility Analysis and Reporting software, or COMFAR.
Ms. de Castro also spoke about the VI’s efforts to diversify and digitise its economy and the need for investment in human resources.
The COMFAR software, she said, would help the VI, through the CAIPA, compute financial statements needed to appraise investment projects, enabling government to evaluate their potential economic benefit to the territory.
She added that she also hoped the course would develop “a core group of professionals well versed in investment project identification, preparation, and appraisal” to promote “well-planned investment projects and prudent investment decisions by governments throughout the region.”