Caribbean Sugar Meeting Begins Today

Issues relating to sugar, such as the need for close collaboration between the Jamaican industry and Caribbean partners, will be discussed by Directors of the Sugar Association of the Caribbean, who will deliberate at a two-day meeting at the Terra Nova Hotel, in Kingston, beginning on February 5.
Executive Chairman of the Sugar Industry Authority, Ambassador Derrick Heaven, said this is significant, “given the fact that it is CARIFORUM that has the opportunity to send sugar to Europe, duty free and quota free, without a guaranteed price, and so a lot of our discussions over the next two days, will in fact have some bearing on our activities here in Jamaica.”
The Chairman was speaking at today’s (February 4), post-Cabinet press briefing, held at Jamaica House.
Meanwhile, in an interview with JIS News, Ambassador Heaven said also to be discussed is the possibility of including the Dominican Republic as a part of the Association.
“The rationale as to why this is necessary is because at the moment, the Dominican Republic is part of CARIFORUM and CARIFORUM was the entity that negotiated with the European Union, as one of the groups for the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)…and under the EPA, we have emerged with an agreement that covers sugar, that we will need to deliberate among ourselves, as to how we will be administering the programme, notwithstanding the fact that the sugar protocol expires at the end of September,” he explained.
“There will be a lot of things (to discuss), including the cane breeding station in Barbados, (which is) owned by the Sugar Association of the Caribbean, and that’s where all the various varieties come out (of)…and research projects that emanate from European Union (EU) funding, is also an issue that we are going to have to look at.and we will compare notes. It’s a very important meeting on the calendar of the sugar producers in the region,” Ambassador Heaven added.
The Association’s membership includes: Jamaica, Belize, Guyana, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.