On November 12, 2019, the University of the West Indies Cave Hill (The UWI Cave Hill) held a Symposium entitled “Exploring New Horizons in Caribbean-China Trade and Investment Relations” on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 at the Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination (EBCCI) of The UWI. The half-day symposium was a collaborative effort by the Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy & Services (SRC), the Confucius Institute, the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) and the Faculty of Law, each of whose mandate touches in some respect on the Caribbean’s growing relationship with China.

The symposium was held on the margins of the annual Confucius Institute Board Meeting between the Cave Hill Campus and the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL). It was attended by members of the University and business communities, students, as well as academic and policy experts from the Caribbean and China.

The first panel focused on the “Evolving Dynamics of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the Caribbean and the Legal Norms and Principles underpinning the BRI”. The panelists were Professor the Honourable Ambassador Richard L. Bernal, OJ, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Global Affairs, The UWI who joined via Zoom link; Sir Trevor Carmichael, KA, LVO, SCM, QC, attorney-at-law, Dr. Lan Hua, Associate Professor, Faculty of International Law, China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL); Dr. Don Marshall, Director and Senior Research Fellow of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES); and Dr Yu Meng, Assistant Professor of private international law, School of International Law, CUPL. The panel was chaired by Dr. Ronnie Yearwood, Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at The UWI Cave Hill.

The second panel was on “Business, Investment and Trade Dimensions in Caribbean-China Relations”. The panelists were Ambassador Jackman; Dr. Dong Jingbo, Associate Professor of Law at CUPL; Connie Smith, Managing Director of Tricor Caribbean; Dr. Helene Zamor, Lecturer in French and Coordinator for Modern Languages at The UWI Cave Hill. Ms. Huan Zhu, Research Associate Professor at the Cato Institute’s Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies joined via Zoom link. The moderator was Alicia Nicholls, trade researcher with the SRC.

Please see below a photo of some of the organizers and panelists:

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