Your Excellency, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen
Representatives of the media

It is a great pleasure for me as Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to be participating in this signing ceremony to mark the implementation of a second component of the Financial Cooperation Agreement between the CARICOM Secretariat and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Excellency, the provision by your Government of this second commitment of five (5) Million Euros to the Pan-Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP), for the execution of a regional project on the Prevention of HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean, is no doubt a signal of your Government’s satisfaction with the performance of PANCAP in implementing the first phase of the programme.

The grant is deeply appreciated and most timely. PANCAP has just established its Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework on HIV and AIDS for the period 2008-2012. Among its main elements is the commitment to facilitate the achievement of universal access to HIV and AIDS prevention, care, treatment and support services during the period in which this Framework is being implemented.

The original grant of €8 million, in 2005, provided significant stimulus for increased condom use as a result of greater awareness on the part of the general public. Increases in the total condom market and in the growth of non-traditional distribution outlets, resulted in sales increases of over 250% in the target countries. This fact has been well documented.

In November 2007, one year ahead of the expiration of the original Cooperation Agreement, the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany commissioned an independent external evaluation of the performance of the project. The evaluation report concluded that the project was “a success in both its management and operations” and recommended, unequivocally, its extension to a second phase.

The success of the project so far can be credited to the recognition that enhancing the sexual health of the people rests on the ABC strategy which places emphasis on combining abstinence, being faithful and condom use. Research has increasingly underscored the significance of the ABC strategy in reducing the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections and the HIV infection rates in the Caribbean.

Importantly – indeed very importantly - the decision has been taken to expand the direct beneficiaries under the new Cooperation Agreement beyond the original eight countries of Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Maarten and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Guyana and Suriname will now be included as well.

Of added significance to this expansion of beneficiaries is the fact that, in addition to the scaling up of HIV prevention efforts among the most-at-risk population groups, the project now targets the important and often under-resourced indigenous populations, with innovative social and behaviour change interventions. Attention will also be directed, in this phase, towards improving the reproductive health of women, including their sexual rights.

Among the many positive developments resulting from the implementation of this programme are the following:

-  the development and implementation of culture-sensitive and innovative behaviour change models which have resulted in measurable increases in knowledge of HIV prevention among the most-at-risk groups in the targeted countries. In addition there has been the training of hundreds of peer counselors to ensure sustainability of service delivery and behaviour modification; and

-  the availability of a body of new scientific information which provides a rational basis for the planning and implementation of HIV prevention programmes well into the future.

Critically the extension of the project will be a seamless one, and all components which were pursued in phase one will continue in phase two as it builds on, and consolidates, the gains of the previous period.

Excellency, the support from your Government (the Federal Republic of Germany) is most important for even broader reasons than so far referred to. The support also fills an important gap by helping to mainstream HIV prevention into the education, health, youth, gender and even cultural programmes and policies of the Community, all of which fall under the Council for Human and Social Development. In addition, it emphasises the need for a multi-sectoral approach to reducing the spread of HIV, and for that matter, most other preventable non-communicable and communicable diseases.

The implementation of this programme is also in sync with the overall recognition enunciated in the Nassau Declaration by our Heads of Government in 2001, that the Health of the Region is the Wealth of the Region. We therefore see this programme, which your Government is supporting, as having important and wider implications for our integration movement by increasing the health and wellbeing of our peoples, which is so important for sustaining a workforce capable of competing in the global arena.

For such reasons, we value in no small measure, the support provided to PANCAP over the past five years by the financial development and technical assistance arms of your Government.

Excellency, before closing, I must also take this opportunity to congratulate the leadership and membership of PANCAP for their outstanding efforts in driving the regional offensive against HIV and AIDS. PANCAP has grown almost beyond recognition since its establishment by CARICOM Heads of Government in 2001 and its accomplishments continue to win national, regional and international acclaim. We have no doubt that the PANCAP spirit will remain vibrant, and its resolve strong as it continues to strive towards the achievement of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services.

It is therefore with a sense of great pleasure, Excellency, that I convey the profound gratitude of the Caribbean Community and the entire fraternity of PANCAP to the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany for its generosity to the people of the Caribbean in continuing to provide support to the regional response to the HIV and AIDS challenge in a most tangible form. This is ever more appreciated in light of the austere global financial climate which is affecting all of our countries.

I thank you.

Contact: piu@caricom.org