(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The new Director-General of the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN), Her Excellency Gail Mathurin was formally introduced to the Region on Monday 16 November, 2009.

The introduction was conducted at media briefing, via video conference involving the media in Guyana and Barbados.

In his remarks, CARICOM Secretary-General, His Excellency Edwin Carrington highlighted Ambassador Mathurin’s long standing diplomatic career, accentuating her work as Permanent Secretary and Head of the Foreign Service in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica.

Mr. Carrington underscored the new OTN Director-General’s impressive career which included her service as Jamaica’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and concurrently as Ambassador Non-resident, to Portugal, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Spain.

Ambassador Mathurin served as a career Foreign Service Officer in the Jamaican Foreign Service from 1979. She has undertaken several key diplomatic assignments, including Permanent Representative to the United Nations and the specialised agencies in Geneva, and the World Trade Organisation where she was also co-ordinator of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group in the WTO Doha Round of Negotiations.

Other assignments included Senior Director and later Under Secretary in the Trade Division of the Foreign Ministry, and Ambassador in Charge of External Trade Negotiations. During those assignments, she participated in the region’s negotiations with the Dominican Republic, the Free Trade Area of the Americas and the intra-regional negotiations related to the establishment of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.

Ambassador Mathurin’s appointment as Director-General of the OTN came as the result of a decision taken by the CARICOM Heads of Government at its 30th Regular Meeting in Georgetown, Guyana. In March 2009, the Heads of Government had agreed to incorporate the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) into the CARICOM Secretariat as a Specialised Department and agreed to rename the CRNM, the OTN at their July 2009 Summit.

Secretary-General Carrington noted that the OTN was “committed to the fullest consultations with Member States” in the preparation of regional positions of trade negotiations with third states.

Ambassador Mathurin’s stated that the OTN has also prioritised, as part of its external trade agenda for the Region, an advocacy for the completion of the DOHA Round of Negotiations.

In addition, she said that her office was working closely with the Implementation Unit of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), to ensure that arrangements were in place for the execution of the EPA, which CARICOM signed with the European Community (EC) in October 2008.

Of priority to the OTN also, Ambassador Mathurin said, was the involvement of the private sector and non-state actors, in preparations for external trade negotiations. She stated that the OTN had in train outreach programmes to augment these sectors’ involvement in the regions’ trade and development agenda.

Secretary-General Carrington stated that he was confident of the capacity of the OTN to undertake its task and fulfil its mandate under the leadership of the “extremely experienced and competent Director-General”, along with the “experienced technical staff”.

The OTN retains offices in Barbados and Jamaica, with officers based in Brussels, Belgium; Geneva, Switzerland; Canada; Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana.

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org