Latest update January 6th, 2025 4:00 AM
CARICOM/EU ink €82.6M support pact
…. the path full integration is a long, not deprived of obstacles-Kopecky
By Rabindra Rooplall
Three financing agreements valued some €82.6M (US$110M) were yesterday inked between CARIFORUM and the ACP (African Caribbean and Pacific sugar producing countries) and the European Union and also include countries belonging to the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).
The pact is aimed at strengthening the integration efforts of the groupings of countries.
CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin La Rocque yesterday signed the agreements in the presence of Head of the EU Delegation, Robert Kopecký and other CARICOM officials.
The signing was done at CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara.
According to Kopecký, the € 82.6 M is sourced from the €165M Regional Programme which falls under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF).
Head of Delegation of the European Union to Guyana, Robert Kopecký (left) observes CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque signing one of three agreements.
“They are a testimony of the EU’s continued commitments to support the Caribbean Region in the dynamic process of regional integration and signal another milestone in the longstanding relation between the CARIFORUM, ACP States and the European Union,” he noted.
Adding that the European Union was not made all at once, or according to a single plan but rather built through concrete achievements which created solidarity, Kopecký explained the path to full integration is a long and dynamic process, not deprived of obstacles.
As such the EU has been supporting the integration steps of CARICOM along this process.
Kopecký further explained that the first agreement is one which provides support for the Economic Integration and Trade by the OECS Region and which is valued at €8.6M.
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 €28M.
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.
Some notable and outstanding features of the programme include the establishment of a Euro €3.45M 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.
The third agreement revolves around an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Capacity Building Programme which is valued at €46.5M 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.
CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, said that 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).
He further added that 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 €82.6M….These Agreements signal 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.”
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