Mr. Sipke Brouwer, Director, Caribbean Division of the European Commission,
Honourable Ministers of CARIFORUM,
Heads of EC Delegations in the Caribbean,
Deputy Secretary-General of CARICOM,
National Authorising Officers of CARIFORUM,
Members of the Regional Preparatory Task Force,
Ladies and Gentlemen

Let me first extend a special welcome to all of you who have travelled to Guyana to participate in this 5th Meeting of the Regional Preparatory Task Force (RPTF) associated with the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement Negotiations. Your presence here, and of those who reside in Guyana, is testimony to the importance attached to the work of the RPTF.

As you are aware, the RPTF was established in accordance with paragraph 9 of the CARIFORUM/EC Plan and Schedule for the EPA Negotiations. The objective was to establish a joint body which would cement the strategic link between the CARIFORUM/EU EPA Negotiations and our development cooperation.

Paragraph 6 of the Background to the Terms of Reference of the RPTF states that ‘the RPTF does not form part of the formal negotiation structure of the EPA negotiations. Its role is to facilitate the inter-linkage between the EPA negotiations on the one hand and the design of development strategies and definition of subsequent development finance cooperation on the other.’ That paragraph goes on to state that'‘the RPTF will support the coordination between EPA negotiations and the other relevant Cotonou institutional structure'. After all, CARIFORUM is much more than about EPA Negotiations.

The mandate of the RPTF, as defined in its Terms of Reference, is to ‘translate needs for support, identified in the course of the negotiations, into operational ideas for trade-related and other development assistance, and to work out these ideas up to the level of pre-identification of fundable actions’.

Colleagues, I have carefully outlined what the agreed functions, objectives and mandates of the RPTF are so that we may be appropriately guided in our discussions today. From the information which I have provided, it would be clear that the RPTF acts only on the basis of matters referred to it by EPA negotiators. It has no budget, and, of itself, does not manage or control resources to implement actions identified by negotiators.

All of that, notwithstanding, negotiators have referred eleven (11) areas to the RPTF for further action. During this meeting, we will have an opportunity to reflect on how much progress has been made in these areas.

As you are aware, CARIFORUM and EU EPA Negotiators have been in intense negotiations, which culminated in a Meeting of Principal Negotiators this week on 25 and 26 September 2006 in the Dominican Republic. All of this in an effort to make progress in Phase III of these negotiations. During this meeting, we will have an opportunity to assess where we are jointly in these negotiations.

While it is not the remit of the RPTF, I cannot let this opportunity go by without reminding our European colleagues of one matter in these EPA negotiations which remain of outstanding concern to CARIFORUM. I refer to the Development Dimension of an Economic Partnership Agreement.

At the launch of these negotiations, in Jamaica in April 2004, both Commissioners Nielson and Lamy, EC Commissioners for Development and Trade respectively, at the time stressed that the EPA should and would be a developmental mechanism not simply a trade agreement. Their statements were supportive of and consistent with CARIFORUM negotiating guidelines which state that development should infuse all aspects of an EPA. The Caribbean is not sure that supply side constraints, which it faces in developing the international competitiveness required to meaningfully participate in a regional EPA, are being seriously addressed in the negotiations. The Caribbean is also not sure that the costs of adjustments arising from agreements reached and/or likely to be reached in an EPA are being adequately addressed.

To consider that the development dimension of an EPA can be addressed within the context of an existing development finance arrangement of the Cotonou Agreement is not to admit that EPA negotiations are likely to give rise to new concerns and considerations arising out of these negotiations. As a region we hope that an opportunity will be created where such issues can be seriously and meaningfully addressed. I can only request that our European colleagues, here with us today, transmit our ongoing and continuing concerns to the relevant authorities in Brussels.

Colleagues, let me once again welcome you to this RPTF Meeting, which is the first in a series of meetings which culminates in a Meeting of CARIFORUM Stakeholders on 10th EDF Programming tomorrow.