(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Thirteenth Meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Council For Finance and Planning (COFAP) will be convened in Bridgetown, Barbados on Thursday January 29, 2009 with the implications of the global financial crisis on the Region high on the agenda.
At his press briefing at the end of 2008, CARICOM Secretary-General, His Excellency Edwin Carrington had noted that the global financial crisis was “a very serious one” and that the Region was not going to escape its impact.
“The question is how can we minimise it,” Secretary-General Carrington had stated.
At that closing press briefing also, Economic Advisor to the Secretary-General, Dr. Maurice Odle had pointed out the Region needed to explore “means and avenues” to mitigate the effects of the financial crisis, despite the small fiscal space within several CARICOM Member States’ economies due to heavy indebtedness.
Dr. Odle had posited that Member States needed to identify those areas within their economies that did not have an employment impact in which expenditure could be minimised and reallocated to initiatives that would create employment and stimulate export oriented activities.
During the upcoming meeting in Barbados, the Council, which has primary responsibility for economic policy co-ordination and financial and monetary integration, will determine the necessary policies the Region needed to adopt to tackle the current downturn.
The impact of the global financial crisis topped the agenda of several other high profiles meetings of CARICOM, including the 24th Meeting Bureau of the Conference of Heads of Government and the 26th Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development in November last, and the Third CARICOM/Cuba Summit in December 2008.
Apart from exploring policy implications in respect of the global financial crisis, Regional Ministers of Finance and other officials are also expected to examine issues related to preparation for the CARICOM Single Economy. In this regard, a report on the performance and convergence of CARICOM Economies will be presented.
Among the other matters to be discussed at the Thirteenth Meeting of the COFAP are the financial and developmental implications of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) entered into last year between the Caribbean Forum of African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries (CARIFORUM) and the European Union (EU).
A Preparatory meeting on Tuesday January 27, 2009 is set to precede the Meeting of the COFAP.
