Procurement officials take part in CDB workshop

(CNS): Senior officials from government ministries and agencies in the Cayman Islands involved in implementation of public funded projects took part in the Caribbean Development Bank’s two-day workshop conducted by CDB’s Head of Procurement, Norman Cameron last week. Nick Freeland, Chair of the local Central Tenders Committee, said the workshop was timely, since the Cayman Islands is currently in the process of reviewing its own procurement procedures.  Ahead of the regional bank’s board meeting on Wednesday this was one of a number of events surrounding the high level meeting. 

The workshop was organised to launch the bank’s revised procurement guidelines for consultants for projects financed by the bank.

Despite the inclement weather the meeting of the Procedures Committee of Contributors to the Bank’s Special Development Fund (SDF), opened Tuesday followed by a resumption of negotiations for a replenishment of the SDF. 

The SDF is CDB’s largest source of concessionary finance for providing soft loans and grants to its Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs).  Replenishment of the SDF takes place every four years, and the current cycle comes to an end in December.  The first formal negotiation meeting was held in Dominica in March 2012.
The Thirteenth William G. Demas Memorial Lecture will also take place on Tuesday, and forms part of the Annual Meeting activities.

Meetings of the Board of Governors will be held at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, while the Board of Directors will meet at the Westin Casuarina Resort and Spa and the Youth Forum will also be held there.  The Demas Memorial Lecture will be delivered at the Marriott Grand Cayman.

Headquartered in Barbados, CDB – of which the Cayman Islands is a founding member – is the Region’s premier development financing institution.  It was established in 1969 to respond to the urgent social and economic development needs of its BMCs.

CDB’s Board of Governors is the Bank’s highest decision-making body.  Each year the annual meeting is held in a different member territory. Premier McKeeva Bush has been serving as Chairman of the Board of Governors since the 2011 meeting he will preside over this year’s meeting before handing over to his successor at the conclusion.