 
Igniting commitment to tackle developmental challenges is central to the Conference on the Economy (COTE), the annual landmark event of the Department of Economics which took place October 10 – 11 at the Learning Resource Centre Auditorium (LRC), at UWI.
The theme this year was “Economic Development Challenges: Looking towards 2030.” This year’s conference honoured Professor Patrick Watson who has served The UWI for over 30 years in many capacities, including as Dean of the Faculty of Social Science and Director of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES).
The conference was organized around the sub-themes: Non-energy Export Growth; Issues in Labour Economics; The Informal Sector and Economic Development; Monetary Policy Challenges; Greening the Economy; and Economics of Social Issues.
Before the conference, on Thursday, September 27 there was a lively day of events which included an armchair discussion, graduate poster competition, Make-a-thon and youth debate competitions.
The Arm-Chair Discussion was on the topic “Looking towards 2030: A Youth Perspective”. It was facilitated by Nikolai Edwards, with representation from The UWI, University of the Southern Caribbean, and NorthGate College. Panelists Lyndrison Lincoln, Rocyn Vitalis and Zachary Joel presented a youth perspective on topics including Education, Training and Development, Health and Entrepreneurship.
This was followed by presentations from three students as part of the Graduate Poster Competition. The Make-a-Thon competition involved building a model based on a Circular Economy.
The debate competitions involved two secondary schools (NorthGate College and Bishops East/Trinity College), and two tertiary institutions (The UWI and the University of the Southern Caribbean). The high school students debated the topic: “Be it resolved that privatization will improve the efficiency of the health sector”, while the older university students debated the topic: “Be it resolved that the introduction of crypto-currency is beneficial to SIDS”.
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