“Propelling Business Development Through Technology,” is the theme for the 14^th Annual Saint Lucia-Taiwan Partnership Trade Show scheduled for November 26-27, 2021. Minister for Commerce, Manufacturing, Business Development, Cooperatives and Consumer Affairs, Hon. Emma Hippolyte alongside her team for the Commerce Ministry met with Taiwanese Ambassador H.E. Peter Chen and his delegation to advance planning efforts for this year’s Trade Show.   The Trade Show aims to heighten awareness of ICT business solutions while showcasing unique products and services of Taiwanese and Saint Lucian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to a local and international audience.  Ambassador Chen explained Taiwan’s partnership in the Trade Show.

“To increase trade and business is a very important job for my embassy and also to enhance the relationship between Taiwan and Saint Lucia.  As you know Taiwan is a trading country.  We export a lot of our products, that’s also our mandate to help our companies to export their products but also we try to increase the awareness of Taiwanese to the good products available in Saint Lucia and to enhance business between our two countries.”

Hon. Hippolyte noted that the Ministry of Commerce will assist all Saint Lucian businesses to improve the standard and quality of their products and services, to be export-ready and to build their competitiveness.

“We must get businesses going. As a business matures and makes profit we need to employ people.  And the long and short of it is that every Saint Lucia wants a decent job, one where they can get an income that can feed their families. That is a summary of what all of us want and we can only do this when we have a Ministry of Commerce supporting the business community, talking to them, removing and helping them remove the challenges that they have and helping them get into new markets.”

Marketing Specialist with the Ministry of Commerce, Cindy Eugene, said due to Covid-19 this year’s Trade Show will rely heavily on the use of ICT as the platform to propel business development and to increase awareness of Saint Lucian products and services.

“The Trade Show here is part of the Love Saint Lucia Campaign because the Love Saint Lucia Campaign is an emphasis to encourage persons to be familiar with what Saint Lucia produces. It encourages the use of Saint Lucian goods; encourages the trade of Saint Lucian goods and services and here we look at goods and services from Taiwan.  The partnership here is to get some support from Taiwan be it that we can trade, be it that we can see some great distribution or goods from Taiwan within the Caribbean and we can also seek to get some manufacturing tools, some machinery to improve our processes here in Saint Lucia to have more efficient products similar to what we see coming out of Taiwan.”

Ambassador Chen believes that the focus on ICT and Virtual platforms at the Trade Show will attract greater interest in Taiwan and other international jurisdictions.

“I think there’s a lot of products and a lot of good resources in Saint Lucia and I really encourage more people to come to Saint Lucia or more people to do business or invest in Saint Lucia.”

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will also be signed at the Trade Show between the Taiwan External Trade Development Council and the St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture.  The Commerce Minister is optimistic that this MOU will bear much fruit.

“We are hoping that by signing the MOU members of the two bodies would have an opportunity to start doing business to business arrangements with their counterparts in Taiwan.”

The 14^th Annual Saint Lucia-Taiwan Partnership Trade Show will feature fourteen (14) Taiwanese companies, 12 Saint Lucian businesses, the American Chamber of Commerce in Barbados and the DigiGov project from Saint Lucia.

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