Conference on the Economy 2011-Opening Ceremony

{gallery}http://www.flickr.com/photos/theuwi/sets/72157627863422614/{/gallery} The Department of Economics, The University of the West Indies, hosted its annual Conference on the Economy (COTE) from October 6-8, 2011 at the Learning Resource Centre (LRC) Auditorium, UWI.

COTE 2011brought together decision makers, policy makers, technocrats, private sector representatives, academics, students and members of the general public.

COTE is an annual landmark event of the Department through which findings from quality research and other studies are presented to inform economic and social policy. This year’s theme, “Managing for Development in a Volatile Economic Environment: Addressing the Challenges before us”, focused on the challenges facing regional economies through the prolonged volatile economic environment. Sub-themes of the conference included: Macroeconomics Challenges and Policy Prescriptions; Agriculture Opportunities and Challenges; Issues in Labour Economics; Trade & ICT Opportunities; Tourism and Aviation Challenges and Opportunities; Resource & Environmental Economics Issues (Disaster Preparedness); Energy Challenges and Policy Prescriptions; and Issues in Financial Economics to name a few.

This year’s conference, paid tribute to Dr. Eric St. Cyr, former Lecturer and Head of the Department of Economics, UWI. Dr. St. Cyr’s contributions to the world of Economics are broad and far reaching in scope; he has contributed twenty-four (24) academic publications to the field of economics and also acted as a team member advising the Government of Grenada on Public Finances. His experience as a consultant has seen him become a part of a large number of projects with tremendous macroeconomic implications in the Caribbean.