(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) In October 2011, I visited Brussels, Belgium to participate in a Meeting of Heads of African, Caribbean and Pacific Group (ACP) Regional Organisations and Chief Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Negotiators. During that Meeting, the Commission of the European Union (EU) provided information that by the end of 2011, the Caribbean Forum of the ACP (CARIFORUM) would have programmed 80% of the Euro 165 million available under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) Regional Indicative Programme. This was, by far, the best performance of any ACP region or sub-region for 10th EDF Regional Programming.
Today, we sign three (3) Financing Agreements which will make some of those resources accessible. This EU support to the Region comes at a time when regional Governments have declared their determination to ensure that integration delivers tangible results to the people of the Caribbean. These three Financing Agreements will help to develop regional capacities to deliver.
The first Agreement is one which provides support for the Economic Integration and Trade by the OECS Region and which is valued at Euro 8.6 million. That Programme will be implemented by the OECS Secretariat and will, among other things, assist in further advancing the OECS Economic Union, strengthening OECS capacity to integrate into the wider CARICOM arrangements and boosting the competitiveness and export capacity of the OECS private sector. The funds will also provide support for the OECS to improve its institutional capacity as well as improve sectoral policy harmonisation in tourism and agriculture.
The second Programme provides support for the CARICOM Integration Process and is valued at Euro 28 million. Its purpose is to provide support for the further development of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). Specifically, it will address issues related to government procurement, labour market information systems, e-commerce the transferability of social security benefits and capacity in statistics among others. Belize and Haiti both receive specific allocations within the Programme. There are some notable and outstanding features of this Programme.
Among them is the establishment of a Euro 3.45 million Standby Facility which will provide institutional and technical support to CARICOM Member States, at the national level, to build capacity to implement the CSME. Another relates to a Public Education Programme which is intended to keep stakeholders continuously informed on the progress of the CSME implementation. We are moving resolutely ahead with the CSME, convinced that it provides a platform for our sustainable economic development.
The third Agreement revolves around an EPA Capacity Building Programme which is valued at Euro 46.5 million and is intended to assist in developing capacity in CARIFORUM to take full advantage of the provisions of the Agreement and to honour commitments undertaken under the EPA. In that regard, the Programme will provide support for Fiscal Reform and Adjustment through the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC); for Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary Measures through the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA); for Technical Barriers to Trade through the National Institute of Metrology of Germany; for Services through Caribbean Export; and for the Regional Rum Industry through the West Indies Rum and Spirits Producers Association (WIRSPA).
The Programme will also provide institutional support for the operation of the CARIFORUM Directorate of the Secretariat and to finance the participation of CARIFORUM stakeholders in Joint CARIFORUM/EU fora established under the EPA.
Taken together, these Programmes are valued at Euro 82.6 million. Signature, today, of these Agreements signals a beginning but the end product will have no meaning if the people of the Region do not feel the impact of the use of these resources. Impact, results and benefits must be the watchwords at the level of implementation. We must satisfy regional stakeholders that our actions bring them added value to their lives. That is the bottom line.
I wish to take this opportunity to extend our appreciation to the EU for its continued support to the Region. In particular I wish also to express appreciation to the officials based in Brussels, and the EU Delegations in Guyana and Barbados, for taking us from the stage of a general Regional Indicative Programme to signature of three (3) significant Financing Agreements. It took some time, but we are finally here.
While expressing my appreciation to the EU, I want to express the hope that proposed changes in EU Development Policy will not diminish traditional support provided by the EU to CARIFORUM and to CARIFORUM Member States. The Region looks forward to negotiating with the EU a substantial Regional Indicative Programme under the 11th EDF.
I thank you.
