| Trade
Ministers of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States,
Cuba and the Dominican Republic will participate in
a meeting with the European Union Commissioner For Trade,
His Excellency Peter Mandelson on Thursday, 6 January
2005. The meeting will take place in Georgetown, Guyana,
where Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Ministers are scheduled
to convene the Eighteenth Meeting of the Council for
Trade and Economic Development (COTED) on Friday, 7
January.
Secretary-General
of CARICOM, His Excellency Edwin W. Carrington says
the exchange with the EU Commissioner is both vital
and timely in the context of the negotiations now
underway for the proposed reform of the EU/African
Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) banana regime. He also
deems the meeting an important forum to address issues
surrounding the challenges in the World Trade Organization
to the EU/ACP sugar protocol. These issues directly
impact on the livelihood and economies of CARICOM
States, Mr. Carrington points out.
Friday’s
Eighteenth COTED Meeting will focus on issues pertaining
to sustainable development, progress towards the implementation
of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), Regional
trade in goods under the CSME, Transportation and
Services. The Meeting will discuss the Caribbean’s
participation in the upcoming International Meeting
in Mauritius to review the Barbados Programme of Action
(BPOA) for Small Island Developing States (SIDS),
sustainable development initiatives in the Region,
as well as disaster reduction and management and the
January 18-22 World Conference on Disaster Reduction
in Japan.
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