| By Desilon DanielsThe European Union (EU) and the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) launched a multi-million Euro project aimed towards improving capacity building in the 15 member states of CARIFORUM.Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett in discussion with Director General for the CARIFORUM Percival Marie before the Project launchThe project was officially launched on Wednesday and saw representatives from both organisations converging at the Duke Lodge in Kingston. The 10th European Development Fund (EDF) provides €46.5M to CARIFORUM for the implementation of several projects. This most recently launched project is valued at €3.1M and aims at capacity building in the areas of competition, public procurement, and customs and trade facilitation.During brief remarks, Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and current Chair of CARIFORUM Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett expressed pleasure at the project and deemed it “timely”.She explained that CARIFORUM signed the economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the EU in 2008 and the agreement was subject to periodic review. The first five-year review, she said, is ongoing. Rodrigues-Birkett opined that more could have been done during the last five years. She said too that initial predictions did not live up to expectation,Leonte Carroo Dolphins Jersey, and attributed this to a number of factors.She went on to say that the initial assessment conducted by CARIFORUM suggested that key capacity-building implementations, such as those promised by the project,Dallas Thomas Dolphins Jersey, would be critical in enabling the region to make use of the EPA and benefit from the overall business impact.Furthermore, Rodrigues-Birkett said that the Caribbean region has indicated its seriousness in sustaining efforts to reform and improve trade regimes at the institutional and sector levels.“Member states have already made good progress in their policy approach in the subject areas under focus in this project. Much of the work that has been advanced at both the national and regional levels is being undertaken independent of the EPA but has been supported by commitments under the agreement,” the CARIFORUM Chair said.Further, the Foreign Affairs Minister said that an important aspect of the negotiation process leading up to the conclusion of the EPA was the necessary private/public sector consultations at the regional and national levels in CARIFORUM.“Those wide ranging consultations were important not only for the public’s awareness but more importantly for the political and technical input of civil society in a critical public policy issue. The need for civil societies input and public participation is also critical in the implementation process,” she opined.Similarly, Percival Marie, Director General for the CARIFORUM Directorate, said the EDF project was not only necessary, but timely as well. Marie said that two studies were recently conducted and highlighted the capacity deficit in a number of areas including competition,Xavien Howard Dolphins Jersey, public procurement and customs and trade facilitation.“This project is therefore timely; it predicted the outcome of some of those technical studies and it made provisions for the building of capacity in the region in those three areas,Spencer Paysinger Dolphins Jersey,” Marie said.Further, Marie said that the three areas under this particular project are essential for the development of the Caribbean region.“Capacity built in these areas contributes significantly to sustainable development,” Marie added. He continued,Allen Barbre Eagles Jersey, “Clearly we cannot develop in the region on a sustainable basis if we do not bring the capacity of our experts and our institutions. Our institutions have to be able to develop on our behalf and our experts must be able to provide services that are required.”The 10th EDF project is in support of the implementation of the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement.According to Eugene Petty, Director for Development Cooperation in the CARIFORUM Directorate, the purpose of the project is to provide consultancy services to conduct training for public and private shareholders and staff of regional institutes under the three identified areas. Further, the training will be based on modules and programmes,Marcus Smith II Eagles Jersey, manuals and handbooks developed by the contractor,Jerome Brown Eagles Jersey, Petty said. The hired contractor is Equinoccio, a consortium of consulting firms.The project will be managed by director general of CARIFORUM who has overall responsibility for the management of the contract with Equinoccio. The company has been contracted to implement the programme that is a capacity development project. The project is expected to achieve several objectives including the undertaking of an assessment of the needs of CARIFORUM states in the three areas along with the development of training materials and the delivery of training programmes to target groups. Target groups include private sector and public sector officials,Jordan Cameron Dolphins Jersey, Petty said.Meanwhile, a regional sensitization workshop was held immediately after the launch of the EDF project. Rodrigues-Birkett opined that the workshop would improve knowledge of and training in specific areas of the implementation of the EPA. She said too that the fundamental objective of the workshop was to strengthen partnerships among the policy stakeholders while facilitating the effective implementation of the agreement.“As such, a related outcome I would expect is the strengthened public/private dialogue and collaboration on trade issues and a coherent program developed and implemented over the next 2 years for ongoing action and collaboration in the areas previously mentioned,Kenyan Drake Dolphins Jersey,” Rodrigues-Birkett said.The 11th EDF agreement between CARIFORUM and the EU is currently underway, Marie said. He said that a similar approach to that of the 10th EDF is being taken with the new agreement. He revealed that the 11th EDF will be valued at €346M. |
