It is with pleasure that I welcome you to this Eighteenth Meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Caribbean Forum of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States (CARIFORUM).
You have come together in fulfillment of the mandate of the 17th Meeting of the Council of Ministers last November which set the agenda for this meeting. The fact that so many of the Member States are represented at the Ministerial level underscores the importance of the critical nature of the item to be discussed and that is also attached to deepening the relationship among CARIFORUM States.
What you are gathered here today to discuss is how does CARIFORUM evolve, what structures would ensure its efficacy and what arrangements would lend themselves to engaging with the European Union in the best possible way in the context of implementation of the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). The vital importance of getting governance systems right has been recognised as a key factor towards the success of multi-lateral organizations such as CARIFORUM.
Over the past two years the discussion on the governance of CARIFORUM has been intensified, given impetus by the signing and need for implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU). The benefits to be derived from the EPA, such as they are, will surely be maximised through CARIFORUM speaking with one voice and through co-ordinated and co-operative efforts by all whenever that is possible.
It must not be forgotten that we are at a critical stage in the programming of the resources allocated under the 10th EDF to the Caribbean Regional Indicative Programme.
I am advised that the OECS Programme for approximately €9.9 million is at an advanced stage of consideration at the European Commission. The Caribbean Export Programme for €26 million, which brings together all private sector support interventions including those envisaged under the EPA Capacity Building rubric, has gone through all approval processes and resources are now being made available by the Commission. Yesterday, I signed off on the Action Fiche for a CSME and CARICOM Integration Support Programme for €28.8 million. The Quality Support Group (QSG) of the European Commission is to decide on the submission during next week.
Technical sessions on developing the 10th EDF EPA Capacity Building, with provisions for Support for the Caribbean Rum Industry, will be further developed during the week of 11 April and the Commission has agreed to a process culminating in signature of a Financing Agreement by October 2011. Tenders for completion of a Social Sector Project Identification and Action Fiche have been launched by the EU Delegation in Guyana. Progress is being made on the Haiti/Dominican Republic Bi-National Programme. In other words, all components of the 10th EDF Regional Indicative Programme are at various stages of implementation, development and/or approval.
A unity of purpose within CARIFORUM and the stability it would demonstrate could only serve to strengthen our position as that exercise progresses. CARIFORUM unity and solidarity would remove any possibility of differences, which there will be from time to time, being exploited to our disadvantage.
As Secretary-General (Ag.) of CARIFORUM, I look forward to a decisive conclusion of this Meeting after a full and frank airing of the issues as presented by the Officials who have ventilated their views as presented in their Report to this Meeting to assist you the Ministers in your deliberations. I have every reason to be confident that your discourse will be conducted in a manner that will result in an outcome acceptable not only to Governments, but also to the people of CARIFORUM who are keenly interested in the outcome of your deliberations.
In closing, I take this opportunity to thank the Government and people of Belize for their hospitality and the arrangements put in place to ensure the success of this significant Meeting.