IN the presence of diplomats from the Forum of the Caribbean Group of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States (CARI-FORUM) and relevant stakeholders, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, yesterday officially launched the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) Capacity building project. This propitious event took place at the historic Duke Lodge in Kingston, Georgetown.Mr. Eugene Petty, Director of Development Cooperation, CARIFORUM Directorate, pointed out that the three-day regional sensitisation workshop, which commenced yesterday, is designed to contribute to the effective overall implementation of the EU-CARIFORUM Cooperation, including the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), with particular reference to obligations relating to Competition, Public Procurement and Customs and Trade Facilitation.

The objective of this project is to provide EPA-support training programmes in the area of Competition, Public Procurement and Customs and Trade Facilitation.
At the end of the workshop, participants will be expected to acquire skills in EPA support training programmes, in the above named areas.

The workshop targets private sector stakeholders and staff of CARIFORUM regional institutions, and is being implemented by Equinoccio. The project is a sub-component of the Institutional and Implementation Capacity component of the 10th CARIFORUM EDF, which saw €10,800,000 being invested in capacity building.

According to Mr. Percival Marie, Director General, CARIFORUM, this workshop will aid in the sustenance of economic development among the participating countries. He said it is a very timely project, which will help to build capacity in key areas of trade.

He also underlined the importance of efficiency in the area targeted by the workshop in the trade and customs industry.

Marie added that this training will not only benefit the CARIFORUM States, but also improve quality in other areas of services, such as the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

He further added that this is the first phase of the continuation of such training under the 11th EDF regional indicative programme, for which negotiations recently concluded in Barbados.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Robert Kopecky, who is Head of the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and the Dutch OCTs, pleaded for the EU’s continued support towards this programme.

Also, Minister Birkett, who is the current Chair of CARIFORUM, urged the participants to fully engage in the sessions because “there can never be too much training.”

She added that the sessions will allow the participants to share knowledge and experience, even as she expresses pleasure to be a part of this ceremony because it is her view that trade policy is now, by far, more complicated having evolved in many places of public policy, dealing with the movement of frontiers of goods and capital.
She said the EPA was signed by member states in October of 2008, with the guarantee that the agreement will be subjected to periodic reviews and the first five year review is currently ongoing.

In addition, she noted that the actions taken thus far by the body have proven that the Region is serious about sustaining its efforts to form and improve its trade regime at the institutional and sector levels.

The EU-CARIFORUM agreement is an economic partnership agreement (EPA) concluded between the EU, and the 15 Caribbean States – Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. (GINA)