(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Director-General of the Caribbean Forum of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (CARIFORUM) Directorate in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat, Mr Ivan Ogando Lora, said an upcoming meeting of the Council of Ministers of CARIFORUM will be “momentous.” He expressed this view en route to the Twentieth Meeting of the Council of Ministers of CARIFORUM which is to be held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic from 29-30 November. It is to be preceded by a preparatory meeting of Senior Officials set for 26-27 November. Secretary-General of CARIFORUM Ambassador Irwin LaRocque will lead the delegation to the Ministerial Meeting.
Mr Ogando underscored that since the convening of the Nineteenth Meeting of the Council of Ministers of CARIFORUM, held in Dominica on 25 November 2011, a number of developments which have the potential to impact CARIFORUM Member States have occurred or are being planned. These include: the institutional assessment of the CARIFORUM Directorate; finalisation of the substantive text of the new Joint Caribbean-European Union (EU) Partnership Strategy; the New EU Development Policy and Approach to Budget Support; commencement of preparation for the first EU/Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Summit in 2013; convening of the Second Meetings of the CARIFORUM-EU Trade and Development Committee and the Joint CARIFORUM-EU Council under the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA); and commencement of discussions on the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) Regional Indicative Programme (and status of 9th and 10th EDF programming and implementation).
The respective meetings of Officials and Ministers this coming week will be taken up with the aforementioned themes. The Ministerial Meeting should provide important policy direction from Member States of CARIFORUM on a range of issues that have a bearing on the regional bloc.
In accordance with the principle of rotation, enshrined in the CARIFORUM Rules of Procedure, the Dominican Republic assumed the Chairmanship of the CARIFORUM regional bloc from 1 July 2012, a position it will hold until 30 June 2013.
The fifteen signatory Caribbean Forum of African, Caribbean and Pacific (CARIFORUM) States to the EPA are the independent CARICOM Member States and the Dominican Republic.
CONTACT: Nand C. Bardouille
Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Implementation Unit
nbardouille@caricom.org
