2nd Wider Caribbean Regional Risk Conference

In an era of mounting global uncertainty, the Caribbean faces a complex and fast-evolving landscape of risks, including climate volatility, social fragmentation, financial instability, and technological disruption. The 2nd Wider Caribbean Regional Risk Conference, jointly hosted by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), CCRIF SPC – the development insurer of the Caribbean and Central America, and CAF - Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, aims to strengthen the region’s collective capacity to respond.

This high-level forum will bring together decision-makers, experts, and innovators to share insights and catalyse concrete action. It will build on the momentum of the inaugural event, held in 2022, which focused on raising awareness around integrated risk management. The second edition will place a sharper focus on cross-sector collaboration, innovation, and practical implementation pathways.

Event date:

September 03, 2025 - September 03, 2025

Online

Objectives

  • Advance coordinated regional responses to multi-dimensional risk.
  • Highlight innovative financing tools and risk-transfer mechanisms.
  • Facilitate cross-sector learning and policy dialogue.
  • Identify scalable solutions rooted in science, community leadership, and youth engagement.
  • Accelerate action toward a more resilient, inclusive, and future-ready Caribbean.

 

The agenda will feature expert panels, interactive "Café Corner" sessions, and high-level policy exchanges designed to drive real-time learning and regional alignment. 

Key Topics Include

  • Sovereign Risk and Financial Sustainability in the Caribbean  
  • Climate change, loss and damage, and disaster risk financing
  • Managing Credit Risk in a Small-State Context
  • Economic tensions, uncertainties, sovereign risk and changes in global trade relations
  • Societal inequalities and threats to social cohesion
  • Misinformation and its impact on public trust
  • Unlocking Private Sector Potential in the Caribbean
  • The role of detection and attribution science in policy and planning
  • Risk implications of AI and digitalisation
  • Unlocking Private Sector Potential in the Caribbean and risk-sharing solution

Who Should Attend

The 2nd Wider Caribbean Regional Risk Conference is open to a wide range of participants who are working to shape or support resilience in the Caribbean and beyond:

 

  • Risk and disaster management professionals
  • Policymakers and government officials
  • Economists and financial sector representatives
  • Climate scientists and environmental experts
  • Academics and researchers
  • Civil society and community leaders
  • Development partners and international organisations
  • Private sector and insurance industry professionals
  • Youth leaders and innovation champions

 

Join leaders, practitioners, and changemakers shaping the Caribbean’s risk response. 

Program

Wednesday, September 3


9:30 am – 11:00 am Opening Ceremony 

Welcome – Conference Moderator 

Introduction to the Conference –

Ms. Elizabeth Emanuel, Head, Technical Assistance Manager Team and Development & Corporate Communications Manager Team, CCRIF SPC
Mr. Stefano Capodagli Chief Risk Officer, Caribbean Development Bank
Remarks – Mr. Daniel Best, President, Caribbean Development Bank
Remarks – Mr. Isaac Anthony, Chief Executive Officer, CCRIF SPC
Remarks – Dr. Stacy Richards-Kennedy, Regional Manager for the Caribbean, CAF - Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean 


11:00 am – 11:10 am Interlude/Entertainment – My Name is Risk

Ms. Cyndi Celeste 

 

11:15 am – 12:45 pm Panel 1: Economic Tensions, Uncertainty and Geoeconomic Confrontations: Navigating these new Global Economic Relations

Moderator: Ms. Marla Dukharan, Caribbean Economist and Advisor

Panel Style: Roundtable Discussion

Speakers
•    Ms. Lilia Burunciuc, Director for Caribbean Countries, World Bank
•    Mr. Timothy Antoine, Governor, Eastern Caribbean Central Bank
•    Dr. Marlene Attzs, Development Economist & Lecturer, Department of Economics, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus
•    Ms. Dilka Escobar, Deputy Director General of the Directorate of Investments, Concessions and State Risk, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Panama
•    Ms. Monique French, Chief Risk Officer, CIBC Caribbean
•    Mr. Ian Durant, Vice-President Corporate Services, Caribbean Development Bank

Policy Statement from Panel – Strategic Directions for Caribbean and Central America Governments

 

1:45 pm – 3:15 pm Panel 2: Sovereign Risk and Financial Sustainability in the Caribbean: Strategic Financing and MDB Interventions

Moderator: Mr. Stefano Capodagli, Chief Risk Officer, Caribbean Development Bank

Speakers:  
•    Hon. Ryan R. Straughn, M.P., Minister, Ministry of Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment
•    Dr. Kevin Greenidge, Governor, Central Bank Barbados
•    Ms. Michelle Yan Zhang, Global Head of Sovereign Credit, World Bank
•    Mr. Joydeep Mukherji, S&P Global (Online)
•    Mr. Joshua Grundleger, Director Sovereigns, Fitch
•    Mr. David Rogovic, Vice President and Senior Credit Officer, Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (Online)

 

3:15 pm – 4:15 pm Café Corner #1 – Blended Finance for Caribbean Resilience: Mobilising Public & Private Capital, Concessional and Non-Concessional Funding

Moderator: Mr. Stephen Lander, Coordinator Development Financing, Private Sector Division, Caribbean Development Bank

Speakers:
•    Ms. Lori Kerr, Chief Executive Officer, FinDev Canada
•    Blended Finance Division, IDB Invest
•    Mr. Shimon McIntosh, Vice President-Commercial Banking and Managing Director, RBC Royal Bank (Barbados) Limited
•    Mr. Simon Springett, United Nations Resident Coordinator, Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean
•    Mr. Stefano Capodagli, Chief Risk Officer, Caribbean Development Bank

 

4:15 pm – 5:40 pm Panel 3: Demystifying Misinformation, Disinformation and Fake News: How Risky are these to our Region’s Development?

Presentation on Impacts of Misinformation and Disinformation
Mrs. Laleta Davis-Mattis, Former General Counsel, The University of the West Indies

Moderator: Mr. Peter Richards, Senior Editor, Caribbean Media Corporation

Speakers react to the presentation:
•    Ms. Charlotte Scaddan, Senior Advisor on Information Integrity, Office of the Under-Secretary-General, UN Global Communications, 
•    Mr. Al Edwards, Chief Executive Officer, Our Today
•    Dr. Craig Ramlal, Executive Director, Artificial Intelligence Innovation Centre, The University of the West Indies

Policy Statement from Panel – Strategic Directions for the WCR

 

 

 

 


Thursday, September 4


9:00 am – 9:15 am Welcome and View of Visual Summaries Day 1 


9:15 am – 10:00 am Café Corner #2 – Exploring Detection and Attribution Science and the Implications for Climate Justice

Led by UWI Climate Studies Group Mona, featuring UNDRR, CCRIF

•    Prof. Michael Taylor, Faculty of Science and Technology; Co-Director, Climate Studies Group, Mona, The University of the West Indies (Online)
•    Dr. Jhordanne Jones, CCRIF-UWI Postdoctoral Fellow, UWI Climate Studies Group Mona, The University of the West Indies
•    Dr. Gabriele Coccia, Senior Risk Management Specialist, CCRIF SPC 
•    Dr. Mario Salgado, Programme Management Officer, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean

 

10:00 am – 11:30 am Panel 4 – Loss and Damage and Climate Finance: Emerging Trends, Challenges and Opportunities

Moderator: Dr. Simon Young, CEO, GeoSy LLC

Speakers
•    Mr. Isaac Anthony, Chief Executive Officer, CCRIF SPC
•    Mr. José Ángel Villalobos, Actuary and Senior Underwriter
•    Mr. Isaac Solomon, Vice-President Operations, Caribbean Development Bank
•    Ms. Sasha Jattansingh, Senior Adaptation and Loss and Damage Expert for the Caribbean, Climate Analytics
•    Mr. Crispin D’Auvergne, Executive Director, Caribbean Cooperative MRV Hub

 

11:30 am – 1:00 pm Panel 5: Are Nature-Based Solutions Keys to Building A Resilient Caribbean?

Moderator:  Ms. Valerie Isaac, Coordinator Environmental Sustainability Unit, Caribbean Development Bank

Speakers
•    Ms. Karen McDonald Gayle, Executive Director, Caribbean Biodiversity Fund
•    Ms. Virginie Andre, Programme Manager, Disaster Risk Management, Delegation of The European Union to Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean States, the OECS and CARICOM/CARIFORUM
•    Mr. Donald Baldeosingh, Executive Director, Carbon Zero Institute of Trinidad and Tobago
•    Dr. Evangeline Inniss Springer, Director, Disaster Risk Reduction Centre, The University of the West Indies
•    Ms. Nicole Leotaud, Executive Director, Caribbean Natural Resources Institute
•    Mr. Oscar Guevara, Principal Executive, Climate Action and Positive Biodiversity, CAF - Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean

A Call-to-Action – Recommendations to Regional Governments on Scaling up Nature Based Solutions
 

 

2:00 pm – 3:30 pm Panel 6: Has the Global Sense of Societal Fragmentation Trickled Down to the   Region?  The Region’s Response….


Presentation on the Regional Human Development Report
Mr. Rodrigo Barraza, SDG Technical Specialist, Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, United Nations Development Programme

Moderator: Ms. Elizabeth Emanuel, Head, Technical Assistance Manager Team and Development & Corporate Communications Manager Team, CCRIF SPC and International Development Specialist

Speakers
•    Mrs. Beverly Harry-Emmanuel, Advisor for Social Development, CARICOM Secretariat
•    Mr. Richardo Aiken, Community Development Specialist, Caribbean Development Bank
•    Ms. Isiuwa Iyahen, Deputy Representative and Acting Head of Office with the UN Women Multi-Country Office (MCO) for the Caribbean
•    Dr. Diana Thorburn, Director of Research, Caribbean Policy Research Institute
•    Mr. Joshua Andall, Prime Minister-elect of the Youth Parliament. Grenada and Grenada’s Youth Ambassador
•    Ms. Letícia Gontijo Furst Gonçalves, Risk Finance Consultant, World Food Programme, Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean (Online)
•    Ms. Heather Timothy, Regional Programme Coordinator, Climate Risk Adaptation and Insurance in the Caribbean Project

 

3:30 pm - 5:00 pm Panel 7: Unlocking Private Sector Potential & Risk-Sharing Solutions for Sustainable Development

Moderator: Ms. Lisa Harding, Private sector, Caribbean Development Bank

Speakers 
•    Mr. Berisford Grey, President & Chief Executive Officer, Sygnus Group
•    Mr. Daniel Best, President, Caribbean Development Bank
•    Mr. Darryl White, Managing Director Caribbean Region, IDB Invest

 

5:00 pm – 5:30 pm Like a Quilt – Stitching the pieces together.  

Policy statements from the panels will be presented and provide for the wrap up of the overall discussions – CDB, CAF, CCRIF as organisers will share commitments possible actions opportunities, innovations and road map.

Closing Remarks/ Next Steps