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A landmark Regional Food Systems Financing Forum recently held in Barbados, continues to receive high  praise across the board—from governments, development partners, financiers and private investors alike — after positioning the region’s food sector as a strategic asset class for investment. With participant reviews ranging from “insightful” to “empowering”, the forum, which convened leading voices from across key sectors, has sparked ongoing investment talks and is being hailed as a turning point in efforts to build resilient food systems and unlock new growth opportunities across the Caribbean.   For UN Resident Coordinator, Simon Springett, the innovative gathering held under the theme: “Mobilizing Equity Capital for Resilient Food Systems in the Caribbean”, simply shows what is possible when the UN Team and partners use innovation to collaborate and co-create solutions to pressing issues facing Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS). “Food security is a bread-and-butter issue for this region. This forum showed us that with the right partners, at the right time, in the right place, and with the right focus, we can achieve the right results. The UN, in collaboration with Intentional Asset Management,  is pleased to have been at the forefront of an initiative which is as much about agriculture as it is about jobs, trade, health, innovation, climate resilience , entrepreneurship and economic growth,” he asserted.  Shaun Baugh, Programme Manager for Agriculture and Agro-industrial Development with the CARICOM Secretariat, also lauded the one-day forum  as a catalyst to boost regional efforts towards reducing import dependency and  supporting emerging industries.“We were very pleased to attend the  Food Systems Investment Forum coming out of the Resident Coordinator Office  for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean. This fits and aligns with the regional 25 X 25 + 5 food security programme in many ways. It recognizes the need for new and expansive investment in our food systems and also  fits directly into what we are trying to achieve, which is to reduce our dependence on imports from extra-regional sources  and to build and create new industries in the Caribbean region,” he said. With just six months on the job, Saint Lucia’s newly elected  Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Sustainable Development, the Hon. Lisa Jawaheir, is poised to help position Saint Lucia as an investment-ready hub, building on the work of her predecessors. While by the end of the day she gave the forum full marks, she admitted that initially, like her predecessors, she wasn’t keen on attending yet another “talk shop”.“As a young person full of drive and full of energy , I’ve had enough of talk shops myself,” the Minster charged, noting that what made this forum special was that it brought together several key players including the World Food Program, the wider UN, CARICOM,  IIECA , and the OECS, to lobby on the region’s behalf.“We have several members in the room who have been able to facilitate discussions with investors on our behalf. I am grateful for partners like FAO, Intentional Asset Management and the UN Food Systems Hub, for  ensuring that we can come into this space, to really share our thoughts, our best practices, and to be able to secure the investment. What was attractive for me , is the commitment between a 12–18-month  period , where we can see some form of action and movement in our countries,” she added.  Minister Jawaheir, who sat on the forum’s Government-Investor Dialogue panel, said some of the key challenges plaguing Caribbean countries was understanding how technology could be used to take them “to the next level”. Most farmers, she maintained,  were unable to export due to a lack of requisite standards in place and the absence of proper certification. She also noted the impact of climate change on the short shelf-life of local produce.  “Saint Lucia is really at that place, we’ve invested heavily in ensuring that we have some climate-resilient facilities, we’ve invested heavily in expansion of our crops and right now we want to help them take their crops to the next level,” Minister Jawaheir stated.Two projects from Saint Lucia made it into the  Blue Economy and Cold Chain Food Systems Deal Room, for further discussions with investors.  For Bernard Sleijster , Co-founder and CEO Food Security Capital  and one of four panelists  on the Investor Roundtable,  bringing together diverse  stakeholders in such a forum is critical to advancing sustainable solutions for food security throughout the Caribbean. “ We are very pleased to be here, because we think it is very important that stakeholders , especially from both public as well as private sector, can meet each other in an environment like this. We are firm believers and advocates for the so-called private-public partnerships (PPPs), and I think this is the place where it can happen. So , we believe it’s very important for the region that these types of events and forum happen in various parts of the Caribbean,” he explained. Noting that the discussions and perspectives shared further reinforced their conviction that food security must remain at the forefront of our collective efforts, Mr. Sleijster described the gathering as no less than inspirational.“It was a truly insightful and inspiring gathering, bringing together stakeholders committed to addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing our region…we left the event feeling encouraged and empowered, knowing that through collaboration, innovation, and strategic partnerships, we can continue advancing sustainable solutions that strengthen food resilience across the Caribbean and beyond.”  Dr. Renata Clarke, Sub-regional Coordinator for FAO, one of the two UN agencies along with WFP, supporting the initiative, was equally optimistic about its outcomes.“Sometimes I think we attend too many meetings , but this is certainly one that stands out. I think it was ambitious to begin with , I mean we do a lot of work with developing the farmers and producers, giving technical information, so the challenge was can we successfully marry ideas about agri-industrial development and sell it to the people who are interested in investing. “This was a great meeting . I think for both sides, it builds on a body of work that has already been done. We seem to keep getting better , clearer with our analyses. I listened and I witnessed several discussions that will have follow-up . So, yes, it’s been a great meeting ,very good use of my time, and I am looking forward to keeping going higher!”During the forum, two project proposals each from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, also made it into Deal Rooms for investor pitches. Deal Room themes included: Climate-smart Agriculture Platforms, Agro-processing and Manufacturing, Logistics and Agri-infrastructure and Blue Economy and Cold Chain Food Systems.As talks continue with financers, the launch of  an Investor Deal Book chronicling  US$320 million in investment-ready opportunities across the region’s food systems seeks to further catalyze  partnerships between investors and enterprises.