Video Remarks on Opening of the Caribbean IdEA Marketplace

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State

Washington, DC

March 3, 2012

I am delighted to send greetings to all of you in Montego Bay. When I visited Jamaica last June, I announced the Caribbean IdEA Marketplace, a program we like to call CIM. CIM is a business competition that connects local entrepreneurs with members of the Caribbean diaspora—with the ultimate goal of sparking new partnerships that will create jobs and economic opportunities in the region. Today, I’m pleased to announce that the Caribbean IdEA Marketplace is open for business.

We are proud to be partnering with a wide range of governments and organizations in this important initiative, including the Inter-American Development Bank, OPIC, and the governments of the United Kingdom and Canada.

The Caribbean diaspora may live in far-off places, but they can still play a crucial role in their home countries. CIM will help forge the connections that will turn new business ideas into new businesses, creating jobs and boosting trade and investment in the Caribbean.

Visit CaribbeanIdea.org to learn more about the program and to find partners around the world who are looking to build innovative new businesses and energize your economies. With your support – and your ideas – CIM will help us tackle some of the most complicated and pressing challenges of our time. I’m excited to hear about the progress you make. Thank you.