(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana)   Trade Ministers of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States, Cuba and the Dominican Republic will participate in a meeting with the European Union Commissioner For Trade, His Excellency Peter Mandelson on Thursday, 6 January 2005. The meeting will take place in Georgetown, Guyana, where Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Ministers are scheduled to convene the Eighteenth Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) on Friday, 7 January [2005].

Secretary-General of CARICOM, His Excellency Edwin W. Carrington says the exchange with the EU Commissioner is both vital and timely in the context of the negotiations now underway for the proposed reform of the EU/African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) banana regime. He also deems the meeting an important forum to address issues surrounding the challenges in the World Trade Organization to the EU/ACP sugar protocol. These issues directly impact on the livelihood and economies of CARICOM States, Mr. Carrington points out.

Friday's Eighteenth COTED Meeting will focus on issues pertaining to sustainable development, progress towards the implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), Regional trade in goods under the CSME, Transportation and Services. The Meeting will discuss the Caribbean's participation in the upcoming International Meeting in Mauritius to review the Barbados Programme of Action (BPOA) for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), sustainable development initiatives in the Region, as well as disaster reduction and management and the January 18-22 World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Japan.

Contact:

Huntley Medley
Email: hmedley@caricom.org