Export Saint Lucia will host an Export Competitiveness Symposium on Friday, as part of activities planned for Business Month.

The discussion workshops will address the challenges that clients face in the export process.

Jason Darius, Public Relations Officer for Export Saint Lucia, said the organization’s intent is to bridge the gaps that are encountered during the export process.

“Export Saint Lucia’s main activity for Business Month is the Export Competitiveness Symposium. The thrust of the initiative is to target some of the issues affecting clients and to meet those needs, and also to bridge those gaps with the information disseminated during the discussion workshops,” he said.

Three workshops, each with a different focus, will encompass the symposium.

“The first workshop for the day is the Export and Energy Workshop, which will examine the conservation methods that can be employed to reduce the cost of production. The second workshop is titled Shipping and Logistics for Exports. The idea is to advise and inform exporters of the process, best practices, dos and don’ts, and available services for export. The third component is Creative Money. Often times we hear of the creative sector not really being a driver or contributor to the island’s GDP. So we want to look at what factors affect that and how we can make the playing field for creatives a little greener.”

Mr. Darius said the symposium will provide pertinent information, and that entrepreneurs can also benefit from networking opportunities.

“Our main speaker for the Export and Energy segment is Mrs. Paula Calderon. She has done a lot of work in sustainability and energy conservation. Adrian Augier will address the Creative Money segment. He will be speaking about making things more green for creatives and how we can see a more lucrative sector. Hopefully, it will be a day of valuable information dissemination and networking as well.”

The Export Competitiveness Symposium will be held on Friday, Nov. 16, at the Sandals Halcyon from 8 a.m.