(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Thirteenth CARICOM-Japan Consultations on technical cooperation will convene in Barbados on 19-20 March 2009 and are expected to cover both technical and political issues of mutual interest.
The Consultations will also present an opportunity for reviewing Japan’s technical assistance programme with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Presently Japan’s technical assistance with CARICOM is by way of projects funded under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the provision of funds for projects under the Japan-CARICOM Friendship and Cooperation Fund (JCFCF).
Arrangements under the JICA programme are based on the provision of paid experts and some machinery and equipment for the purpose of achieving the objectives of approved projects. This arrangement has been in place since 1997, with an expert assigned to the CARICOM Secretariat.
Under the Japan-CARICOM Friendship and Cooperation Fund, which came into force with the signing of the “New Framework for CARICOM-Japan Cooperation for the Twenty-First Century” in Tokyo in November 2000, two streams of resources are utilised. These are contributions of the Government of Japan, based on annual budgetary allocations and the Contributions of the Japanese Private Sector which are based on the interest accrued from a Fund set up by the Japanese Private Sector.
The Community will use the opportunity of the consultations to update Japan on progress made and the work still to be done in the implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). Work on the macroeconomic policy framework for the Single Economy is expected to pick up pace to achieve the operational deadline of 2015 set by CARICOM Heads of Government. Both sides will also broadly discuss challenges confronting the development of the Region in the midst of the current global economic and financial crisis. As small, vulnerable and open economies, the countries of the Caribbean Community have been severely affected by this crisis.
The Community will take advantage of the opportunity to articulate its concerns and suggestions to a country which will be attending the forthcoming G20 Summit on the global economic crisis. CARICOM will also update their Japanese counterparts on the CARICOM Development Fund and on issues related to regional agriculture, energy and Climate Change.
