Press Releases

(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) are making steady progress on all fronts including statistical data collection and sharing to foster the smooth functioning of the CARICOM Single Market (CSM) after its December 2005 implementation.

To this end, the Standing Committee of Caribbean Statisticians (SCCC) will convene its Thirtieth Meeting in Kingston, Jamaica from 26-28 October under the theme_ “The CSME and the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals–The Implications for Statistics in the Region.”

As the Region embraces the theme of this year’s Worlds Standards Day “Standards for a Safer World”, we are enjoined to focus on industry best-practices, new and emerging technologies, new barriers to trade as well as emerging threats to health, safety and the environment.

The third phase of negotiations for an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between CARIFORUM countries and the European Union was launched in Saint Lucia on Friday 30 September 2005.

Mr. Chairman Assistant Director-General of Health of Canada Members of the Diplomatic Corps Executive Secretary, CROSQ Members of Staff of the CARICOM Secretariat Ladies and Gentlemen

As Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community it gives me very special pleasure to welcome you to our new Headquarters here at Turkeyen, and I hope that your deliberations will not only be enjoyable but fruitful.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) As Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) prepare for the full implementation of the CARICOM Single Market (CSM) by 31 December 2005, specific attention is being given to the area of Standards to ensure that CARICOM countries can compete effectively in the international market arena.

GROS ISLET, SAINT LUCIA – “For small developing economies, trade is an important mechanism for nurturing economic growth. In the current international trading environment, however, there is a scaling down and in some cases dismantlement of special arrangements for key Caribbean export products. As a result, there has been dislocation in key agricultural sectors.” This was the message delivered by CARIFORUM’s Principal Negotiator for EPA Negotiations and Director General of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM) Ambassador Dr.