Few people in the English speaking Caribbean will know the name of Felipe Vicini, the Executive President of Grupo Vicini, the Dominican Republic conglomerate that is engaged in everything from energy to agriculture. Yet his recent joint venture announcement contains important messages for the whole of Cariforum as it makes clear that the region can become a base for global enterprise; that the private sector can bring economic benefit and employment; that significant economic initiatives rest as much with companies as governments; and that there are positive ways in which government and business can work together.

On February 23, Mr Vicini made public that his group and the Indomina Group had entered into a partnership agreement with Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom to operate and manage a huge new state-of-the-art film and television facility in the Dominican Republic.

Located in Juan Dolio on the Dominican Republic’s southern coast about 40 miles east of Santo Domingo, Pinewood Indomina Studios, as the venture…..