Antigua and Barbuda was among the Caribbean nations represented at the inaugural Caribbean Economic Forum (CEF) 2026, a landmark two-day gathering that convened global financial leaders overseeing more than US$24 trillion in institutional assets, lending capacity and balance sheet strength. According to Antigua.news, the event offered the twin-island nation a high-profile platform to showcase its economic resilience and investment potential to some of the world's most influential sources of capital.
Held on June 18 and 19 at the Hilton Barbados Resort, the Forum brought together an unprecedented assembly of international investors, sovereign representatives, multilateral development banks, Wall Street investment banks, private equity firms, central bank governors, government ministers and corporate executives. The gathering was hosted by ACERO CAPITAL and designed to position the Caribbean as a unified, investment-ready market capable of attracting significantly greater flows of global institutional capital.
Discussions across the two-day event centred on mobilising investment into key sectors that closely align with Antigua and Barbuda's development priorities — among them infrastructure, renewable energy, climate resilience, technology, food security, logistics, financial services and the blue economy. The Forum also stressed the importance of innovative financing structures and strategic partnerships between governments, international financial institutions and the private sector to transform regional development projects into bankable investments.
Gregory N. Hill, Founder of the Caribbean Economic Forum and Managing Partner of ACERO CAPITAL, called on the global community to reconsider its view of the region.
"For too long, the global community has misread the Caribbean as a collection of small, isolated markets. We completely reject that narrative. The Caribbean is one of the world's most strategic investment frontiers," Hill said.
Hill added that the Forum aims to reposition the Caribbean as a unified investment destination capable of attracting institutional capital at scale, through stronger project preparation, innovative financial structures and strategic partnerships.
Participants travelled from across the Caribbean, Latin America, the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Türkiye and Africa — a breadth of representation that underscored the region's growing significance in global capital markets.
The Forum concluded with a commitment to accelerating investment across the region and establishing a new model for connecting Caribbean opportunities with the world's largest pools of capital. For Antigua and Barbuda, the event represents another avenue to strengthen international partnerships and attract investment in support of sustainable economic growth and national development.
