CaribPR Wire

Caribbean governments congratulate Royal Caribbean International for its 2013 award along with ICN Founder Felicia Persaud and Dr. Grace Lappin, managing director of Avalon Partners and this year's marquee sponsor. (Hayden Roger Celestin image)

CaribPR Wire, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. June 7, 2013: Avalon Invest Caribbean Now concluded with a bang Wednesday, June 5^th, with delegates, sponsors and speakers alike buzzing over the event’s presentation and program line-up that included a representative from the U.S. State Department and a Chinese delegation.

“Incredible,” “informative” and “superb,” were just some of the phrases used to describe the ICN 2013 forum that kicked-off with the VIP reception on Tuesday evening, June 4^th and wrapped up at noon on Wednesday at the Radisson Martinique Hotel in New York City.

Over twelve dozen delegates attended the Avalon Invest Caribbean Now Forum and reception, including Premier of the Turks & Caicos Islands, Dr. Rufus Ewing and his Minister of Finance C. Washington Misick; Minister of Tourism & International Transport, International Trade, Industry, Commerce & Consumer Affairs St. Kitts, Ricky Skerritt; Minister for Tourism, Heritage and Creative Industries, St. Lucia, Lorne Theophilus; Minister of Tourism Nevis, Mark Brantley; Minister of Tourism of Antigua & Barbuda, John Maginley; Minister of Tourism, Sports & Culture, St. Vincent & The Grenadines, Cecil McKie; Assemblyman Tracy Davidson-Celestine, Deputy Chief Secretary and Secretary, Division of Tourism and Transportation, Tobago; Nicolaas Sneek, Commissioner, St. Eustacius; Minister of Tourism of The Bahamas, Obie Wilchcombe and Chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organization, and Commissioner of the United States Virgin Islands, Beverly Nicholson Doty.

ICN founder, Felicia Persaud, opened the forum with a passionate speech on the relevancy of the Caribbean while Anthony Eterno, of the Office of Caribbean Affairs in the Western Hemisphere Division in the U.S. State Department, discussed key issues regarding American investment in the Caribbean.

Alan Loewenstein delivered the keynote address and insisted the Caribbean is ripe for investments.

This was followed by a panel on “Development, Tourism & Beyond,” by Heather Flossiac of Belle Vue Properties of St. Lucia; E. Jay Saunders, CEO of Digicel TCI; Brian Lilly, founder of One Caribbean Television and Ganesh Ramanathan, creative director at Hard Beat Communications. The panel was moderated by Dr. Grace Lappin of Avalon Partners, Inc.

Xiaoguang Liu, consul in charge of economic & commercial affairs at the Consulate of China in New York; Johnny Liu of the American Chinese Commerce Development Association, (ACCDA); and Li Li, managing director of the Chinese American Business Development Center, (CABDC), were part of a well received panel on China and the Caribbean that was moderated by Arthur Piccolo of the Bowling Green Association.

The panel was presented by the Sino-American Friendship Association, (SAFA) and supported by ACCDA and the CABDC.

Additionally, US-based; Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd; the “ICN 2013 Corporate Leadership Award” winner, discussed its US$200 million in investments in the Caribbean region over the past ten years.

The event was the most promoted of the Caribbean Week activities with media placements in over one thousand media outlets, including CNBC, Reuters, Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal.

Invest Caribbean Now is organized annually by The Caribbean Tourism Organization and digital media solutions company, Hard Beat Communications, during Caribbean Week in New York. The event is the brain child of Persaud and is now in its third year.

Kara Coleman, news anchor of One Caribbean Television emceed the forum which was sponsored by Avalon Partners; The Turks & Caicos Islands Investment Agency; Royal Caribbean Cruise, Ltd; One Caribbean Television, The Chinese American Business Development Center, the American Chinese Commerce Development Association and No-Jet-Lag.

2013 media partners included the PR Newswire, CaribPR Wire, News Americas Now, WINN FM of St. Kitts, South Florida Caribbean, Caribseek, Antigua Tribune, Bahamas Spectator, Barbados Gazette, British Caribbean News, Caribbean ET Roundup, Caribbean Financials, Cuba Chronicle, Dominica Gazette, Dominican Republic Post, Dutch Caribbean News, French Caribbean News, Grenada Chronicle, Guyana Inquirer, Haiti Gazette, Jamaica Inquirer, Puerto Rico Tribune, St. Kitts Gazette, St. Lucia Chronicle, St. Vincent Tribune, Trinidad Tribune, the Bajan Reporter, The Bahamas Weekly and Bahamas Local.

For more including additional photos and videos of the speeches and presentations stay logged on to InvestCaribbeanNow.com.

Royal Caribbean International President & CEO, Adam Goldstein and VP Mike Ronan, will accept the award on behalf of the company.

CaribPR Wire, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. June 3, 2013: Celebrating more than four decades in business, Royal Caribbean International will be honoured for its investments in the Caribbean region during Caribbean American Heritage Month in New York City this June.

Royal Caribbean International will be presented with the ‘2013 Invest Caribbean Now Corporate Leadership ‘award on Wednesday, June 5^th at the Radisson Martinique Hotel, for its substantial commitment in serving the Caribbean region’s tourism sector, the current lifeblood of many nations.

The Avalon Invest Caribbean Now forum is the definitive Caribbean investment event, presented annually in conjunction with the Caribbean Tourism Organization, (CTO), the governmental arm of tourism; and digital media company, Hard Beat Communications. Held during Caribbean Week in New York, one individual or corporation deemed as excelling in its investments in the U.S.’ ‘Third Border,’ is selected to receive the coveted award each year.

ICN officials are honouring Royal Caribbean International this year for generously investing in the region and developing partnerships with governments and local businesses in twenty countries.  Royal Caribbean operates twenty-three ships that call at over twenty Caribbean destinations, bringing more than 8.5 million visitors to the region each year.

Over the last ten years, Royal Caribbean’s partnerships have been extensive, generating aggregate investments of over US$200,000,000, including the historic cruise port of Falmouth, Jamaica; Roatan Honduras Town Center and the cruise port in Belize City. In addition, Royal Caribbean operates its private destinations of CocoCay in The Bahamas and Labadee in Haiti.

Royal Caribbean International’s CEO and President, Adam Goldstein and Mike Ronan, the company’s vice president of government relations for the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia, will accept the award on behalf of Royal Caribbean.

In commenting on the award, Royal Caribbean International’s CEO and President, Goldstein, said: “The Caribbean has been the heart and soul of who we are and where we go for over 40 years, and we are honored to receive the 2013 ‘Invest Caribbean Now Corporate Leadership Award.’ At Royal Caribbean, our goal is to continue to work closely with the Caribbean so that their ability to retain and attract cruise ships remains as strong and robust as ever and we look forward to being a leader and working to help recognize the region’s value.”

As well, this year’s ICN program will focus on both the US and China’s investments in the Caribbean with speakers including Anthony Eterno of the Caribbean Affairs Office in the Western Hemisphere Department of the U.S. State Department; Xiaoguang Liu, consul in charge of economic & commercial affairs, Consulate General of China, New York; and Jianxin Lin, chairman of the American Chinese Commerce Development Association.

The forum comes on the heels of Vice President Joe Biden’s May 28th trip to the Caribbean for the signing of the United States – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, (TIFA) and the first visit to the region by the new Chinese President Xi Jinping that concluded on June 2nd.

ICN 2013 is sponsored by marquee sponsor Avalon Partners; gold sponsors, The Turks & Caicos Islands Investment Agency and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.; bronze sponsor, One Caribbean Television and supporting sponsors, The Chinese American Business Development Center, the American Chinese Commerce Development Association and No-Jet-Lag.

2013 media partners include the PR Newswire, CaribPR Wire, News Americas Now, WINN FM of St. Kitts, South Florida Caribbean, Caribseek, Antigua Tribune, Bahamas Spectator, Barbados Gazette, British Caribbean News, Caribbean ET Roundup, Caribbean Financials, Cuba Chronicle, Dominica Gazette, Dominican Republic Post, Dutch Caribbean News, French Caribbean News, Grenada Chronicle, Guyana Inquirer, Haiti Gazette, Jamaica Inquirer, Puerto Rico Tribune, St. Kitts Gazette, St. Lucia Chronicle, St. Vincent Tribune, Trinidad Tribune, the Bajan Reporter, The Bahamas Weekly and Bahamas Local.