Port-au-Prince, Haïti.- The Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in collaboration with the Centre for Facilitation of Investments of Haiti (CFI) and the Export and Investment Centre of the Dominican Republic (CEI-RD), conducted a Workshop on the Best Practices in Implementing Investor Tracking Systems, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti from April 15-16, 2015.
CFI’s General Director, Ms. Norma Powell, opened the session welcoming participants to the event, noting that “the strong increase in investments in Haiti calls for a strong Client Relationship Management (CRM) system that allows for all current and potential investors to be properly catered to”. She further spoke about the benefits of inter-ministerial cooperation and investment promotion and emphasized that a strong CRM system would lead to an increase in capacity for the CFI.
Ms. Silvia Severi, representative of the Delegation of the European Union (EU) in Haiti, defined the initiative as a "unique opportunity to exchange information and experiences in customer relationship management, [which has now become] a very technical and highly strategic field" for investment promotion. She also highlighted the link between effective promotion of direct investments and a growth-oriented, job creating economic activity. The EU representative additionally underscored the importance of supporting economic cooperation between Haiti and the Dominican Republic with a view to harmonising their economic relations and strengthening their socio-economic development at regional and international levels.
Ms. Severi further explained that the two-day workshop “is a concrete step in the right direction, to achieve both countries’ mutual objectives of enhancing their capacity and improving their cooperation in the field of trade and investment promotion.
The sessions brought together 21representatives from CFI and CEI-RD, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Economy in Haiti. Additionally, extra-regional investment promotion agencies (IPAs) such as Pro Mexico and Brazilian Agency of Export and Investment Promotion (Apex Brazil) shared their experiences in the implementation of their CRM systems with the participants. They were also introduced to a new CRM system “IPA Desk” by a private firm E-Source Capital Technology.
The workshop was undertaken within the framework of the Haiti-DR Bi-national Programme, Trade Component, implemented by Caribbean Export and funded by the EU under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF), and the “Haiti – Private Sector Development through Investment Promotion” programme implemented by the IDB.