CAF opens its Regional Office for the Caribbean

Stacy Richards-Kennedy was recently appointed as Regional Manager for the Caribbean at CAF, Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, and will strengthen coordination of the Bank's actions in its existing member countries - Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago - as well as expand CAF's development assistance to other interested Caribbean countries.

CAF's Board approved this year a USD 7 billion capital increase, the largest in the bank's history, which will allow it to double its portfolio (to over USD 60 billion) by 2030 and provide much-needed development assistance to its member countries. The Board also approved the establishment of a Regional Office for the Caribbean. Given CAF's increased support to the region in response to the fiscal challenges that have been exacerbated by the pandemic, CAF has been recognized regionally as an agile and client-focused development partner. CAF is committed to working more closely with Caribbean countries to expand its membership and provide access to financing solutions for both the public and private sectors in the Caribbean.

A national of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Richards-Kennedy has more than 20 years of experience in multilateral negotiations, development management and international finance. During this time, she has built diverse strategic alliances, led multidisciplinary teams and mobilized resources for successful project execution in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, as well as Latin America and the Caribbean.

Dr. Richards-Kennedy brings with her, not only a unique blend of experience, knowledge and multilingual skills, but also a solid network of partnerships both regionally and internationally, having served previously in the position of Pro Vice-Chancellor for Global Affairs at The University of the West Indies, the Caribbean's regional tertiary institution ranked among the top 1.5% of universities worldwide. She has also had a notable career at multilateral development agencies serving as Assistant Resident Representative at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten; Senior Technical Advisor at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); Consultant at the World Bank; and Programme Specialist at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

Dr. Richards-Kennedy's academic background aligns with CAF's commitment to placing knowledge and people at the center of development. She holds a doctorate in Education from the University of Sheffield; a Master's Degree in Development Management and an MBA with a specialization in International Finance from American University (Washington DC, USA); and a Postgraduate Diploma in International Relations and a Bachelor's Degree in Foreign Languages from The University of the West Indies (St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago).

Dr. Richards-Kennedy has been a member of several national and international boards and committees. She has also received several awards and recognitions, among which are: the IDB's Martin Luther King Award for outstanding contribution to the promotion of social inclusion, selection as a distinguished alumna of the UWI Institute of International Relations, the Ernest M. Aiken Award for International Scholars from American University.

Dr. Richards-Kennedy will moderate a panel discussion at CAF's presentation of its Economy and Development Report (EDR) 2021 entitled "Pathways to Integration: Trade Facilitation, Infrastructure, and Global Value Chains" in Trinidad & Tobago. The EDR (or RED by the acronym in Spanish) explores the notion that the relatively low participation in international trade of Latin American and Caribbean firms is due, in part, to the limited use of the regional sphere as a necessary complement to a strategy of global export expansion. This idea focuses on the positive relationship existing between regional and global openness, or what has come to be known as open regionalism. To achieve greater regional and global integration, the report proposes initiatives in three specific areas: trade facilitation, physical infrastructure, and productive integration.

The RED presentation will take place at 2:30 p.m. in the Central Bank Auditorium on Tuesday, November 15^th, 2022 and CAF is working in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago for the presentation of its flagship report. You can register here.

The programme will feature:

• Colm Imbert - Minister of Finance, Trinidad and Tobago.
• Sergio Díaz-Granados - Executive President, CAF -Development Bank of Latin America-.
• Lian Allub - Principal Economist, Directorate of Socioeconomic Research, CAF -Development Bank of Latin America-.
• Alvin Hilaire - Governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago.
• Ryan Straughn - Minister in the Ministry of Finance of Barbados.
• E. Rodolfo Sabonge - Secretary-General of the Association of Caribbean States.
• Jan Yves Remy - Director, Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services, UWI.
• Stacy Richards-Kennedy - Regional Manager for the Caribbean, CAF.
• Christian Asinelli - Corporate Vice President of Strategic Programming, CAF -Development Bank of Latin America-.