LEG/SGO/CCB/IDBDOCS#37036672-12
Hon. Harold Lovell MP
Minister of Finance, the Economy and Public Administration
Ministry of Finance HQ
Government Complex
Queen Elizabeth Highway
St. John's
ANTIGUA, W.I.
Fax: 1-268- 462-1622
Re: ATN/CJ-12159-RG and ATN/CF-12160-RG.
Program to Support Private Sector Development
Competitiveness
in
the
Caribbean.
Non
Reimbursable
Technical
Cooperation
No.
AI-CC2023 “Strengthening Investment Attraction
in Antigua and Barbuda”.
Dear Minister Lovell,
This letter of agreement (the “Agreement”) between the Ministry of Finance of Antigua
and Barbuda, through the Antigua and Barbuda Investment Authority (the “Beneficiary” or
“ABIA”), and the Inter-American Development Bank (the “Bank”), acting in its capacity as
Administrator under the Compete Caribbean Program, is to formalize the granting of a non
reimbursable technical cooperation to the Beneficiary for strengthening investment attraction in
Antigua and Barbuda (the “Technical Cooperation”). The terms and conditions of this Technical
Cooperation are included in the Plan of Operations, which is attached as the Annex and which
forms an integral part of this Agreement. The Bank and the Beneficiary agree upon the
following:
1.
The Bank shall expend from the resources of the Compete Caribbean Program an amount
of up to three hundred sixty six thousand and three hundred dollars of the United States
of America (US$366,300), or its equivalent in other convertible currencies, (the
“Contribution”) to contract and pay the individual expert(s) or consulting firm(s) (the
“Consultants”) necessary to meet the objectives of this Technical Cooperation as
described in the Annex. The Contribution is granted on a non reimbursable basis. Unless
otherwise stated in this Agreement, the term “dollars” shall hereinafter refer to the
currency of legal tender of the United States of America.
2.
The execution period of the Technical Cooperation shall be fifteen (15) months from the
effective date of this Agreement. The Disbursement period shall be twenty one (21)
months from the same date. Any part of the Contribution which has not been utilized
within the disbursement period shall be cancelled. The aforementioned deadlines and any
others that may be stipulated in this Agreement may be extended, when duly justified,
with the written consent of the Bank.
ATN/CJ-12159-RG
ATN/CF-12160-RG
3.
By virtue of this Agreement, the Beneficiary agrees that the Bank shall use the resources
of the Contribution directly and exclusively to contract and pay the individual expert(s)
or consulting firm(s) (the "Consultants") necessary to meet the objectives of this
Technical Cooperation. Prior to the contracting of a Consultant for the execution of any
study or activity contemplated in this Technical Cooperation, the Bank agrees to submit
the name of each Consultant for the Beneficiary’s approval.
4.
The total cost of the Program is estimated to be the equivalent of four hundred eighty two
thousand eight hundred dollars (US$482,800).
5.
The Beneficiary undertakes to make timely provision of the resources required, in
addition to the Contribution, for the complete and uninterrupted execution of the
Technical Cooperation (hereinafter referred to as the “Counterpart Resources”). The total
amount of the Counterpart Resources required is estimated in one hundred sixteen
thousand five hundred dollars (US$116,500), of which one hundred one thousand five
hundred dollars (US$101,500) are to be provided in cash and fifteen thousand dollars
(US$15,000) are to be provided in kind.
6.
The Beneficiary agrees to: (i) inform the Bank before proceeding with the contracting of
the Consultants or undertaking the activities to be financed with Counterpart Resources;
(ii) assist the Consultants hired by the Bank in the performance of their tasks; (iii)
provide the necessary technical, logistic, and secretarial support required for the
execution of the Technical Cooperation; (iv) prepare and submit to the Bank Technical
Cooperation progress reports within thirty (30) days of the completion of each semester
by calendar and a completion report within three (3) months of final disbursement; (v)
store and provide access to all necessary information and documentation required to
conduct the monitoring and evaluation of the Technical Cooperation as described in the
Plan of Operations; and (vi) take other actions as described in the Plan of Operations to
support the monitoring and evaluation of the Technical Cooperation by Compete
Caribbean.
7.
The financing of the consulting services detailed in this Agreement does not imply any
commitment whatsoever by the Bank to finance, wholly or partially, any other program
or project that might directly or indirectly might result from the execution of this
Technical Cooperation. The opinions of the Consultants shall not commit the Bank to the
same position. The Bank reserves the right to express any comments or reservations
regarding such opinions as it may deem appropriate.
8.
The Beneficiary agrees to acknowledge the sponsors of the Compete Caribbean Program
(the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), United Kingdom Department of
International Development (DFID) and the Canadian International Development Agency
(CIDA)), in any events related to the Technical Cooperation and to incorporate the
following paragraph in all public communications dispatched with reference to the
Technical Cooperation:
ATN/CJ-12159-RG
ATN/CF-12160-RG
“Compete Caribbean is a US$40 million private sector development program jointly
funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the United Kingdom Department
of International Development (DFID) and the Canadian International Development
Agency (CIDA), to provide technical assistance grants and investment funding to support
productive development policies, business climate reforms, clustering initiatives and
Small and Medium Size Enterprise (SME) development activities in 15 Caribbean
countries. Projects in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) are
implemented in collaboration with the Caribbean Development Bank.”
The Beneficiary undertakes to notify the Bank, in writing, within a maximum period of
ten (10) working days from the date of signature of this Agreement, whether it considers this
Agreement to contain information that may qualify as an exception to the principle of disclosure
of information under the Access to Information Policy of the Bank, in which case the Beneficiary
undertakes to identify such information in the relevant provisions of the Agreement. In
accordance with the aforementioned policy, the Bank will make available on its “Web” page the
text of this Agreement once it has entered into effect and the aforementioned period has expired,
excluding only that information which the Beneficiary has identified as an exception to the
principle of disclosure of information under this policy.
Please confirm your acceptance of the terms and conditions of this Agreement, in
representation of the Beneficiary, by signing and returning one original to the Bank's Country
Office in Barbados.
This Agreement shall be signed in two (2) originals of equal tenor by duly authorized
representatives, and will enter into force on the date of its signature by the Beneficiary.
Yours Faithfully,
/s/ Joel Branski
______________________
Joel Branski
Representative in Barbados
AGREED:
Hon. Harold Lovell MP
Ministry of Finance and the Economy
/s/ Harold Lovell
____________________________________
Date:
December 13, 2012
Place:
St. Johns, Antigua
ATN/CJ-12159-RG
ATN/CF-12160-RG