Foreign trade comes with opportunities and risks. So said Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon when she addressed the T&T Risk Management Institute’s Second Annual Caribbean Risk Management Conference. She told participants Government is giving priority to developing mature risk management processes in the public and private sectors.
“High volumes of trade, complicated structures of global supply chains, advances in criminal activities, and fear of terrorism have set challenges for governments worldwide,” she said.
“In this regard, this Government has recently approved a new investment loan to strengthen the country’s Single Electronic Window for Trade and Business Facilitation.
“One of the distinct activities of the loan will include the procurement and installation of an advanced risk management system for the Customs and Excise Division and the regulatory agencies involved in trade, which we expect will lead to enhanced operational efficiencies thereby improving the local trade and business facilitation environment.”
The minister gave the assurance that Government is actively managing current economic and social risks to minimise negative effects to citizens and the private sector. She said they are also implementing policies that raise the profile of T&T, attract investors, promote entrepreneurship and job creation.
Ken Hackshaw, executive director of the T&T Risk Management Institute (TTRMI) said the organisation’s main role is to “enhance the risk culture in our local institutions to ensure that risk management becomes a part of how business is done in Trinidad and Tobago.”
Presentations at the conference focused on the use of risk management and internal audit for value and performance, the role of national security in creating an enabling environment for growth and diversification, implementing a risk management framework, the role of risk management as an economic development strategy, developing a risk culture and balancing risk and reward during uncertainty.