Service Providers exploring ways to improve productivity

A half-day workshop for service providers aimed at strengthening the private sector’s capacity to capitalise on the existing and new opportunities was held here last week.{{more}}

The workshop, which was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Commerce and Trade, in collaboration with the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Chamber of Industry and Commerce (CIC) and the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Coalition of Service Industries (SVGCSI), was held on Tuesday, 30 March, 2010.

The Services Sector is critical to the economic development of St. Vincent and the Grenadines as is evidenced by its increasing contribution to annual GDP in excess of 70 per cent. The Government, therefore, deems it necessary as part of its ongoing diversification thrust to strengthen the private sector’s capacity to capitalise on the existing and new opportunities that are created by its fuller participation in bilateral, regional and multilateral trade agreements.

The main objectives of the workshop were, among other things, to enhance the knowledge of service providers about the importance and strategic role of the SVGCSI in improving and/or developing standards and regulations, and to highlight how service providers can benefit by becoming a member.

Service providers are, therefore, advised to organise themselves into associations and to become certified.