(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat and the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, will formally launch a South-South Cooperation Initiative on Tuesday 28 February, 2006, at the Headquarters of the CARICOM Secretariat in Georgetown.

Under the theme, “Transcending boundaries: Uniting people”, this Launch represents the continuation of a process of upgrading from ad hoc collaboration between the two agencies, to institutionalised joint planning and implementation of activities in critical areas of human development in the Caribbean Community.

The South-South Cooperation Initiative is in the context of a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2004 between the UNFPA and the Secretariat. Initial activities centred on HIV/AIDS, reproductive health and education-including family life education, life skills training, career planning, parenting and gender equality as well as population and development strategies particularly in census and vital statistics.

A key component of the Initiative is building capacity in the Region by promoting greater access to technical assistance and training opportunities in these areas of expertise. To this end, safeguards have been built in to ensure the sustainability of linkages through efficient functioning of the South-South cooperation mechanism and its support for the Regional integration processes.

The ultimate expectation is that this South-South process will contribute positively towards CARICOM Member States achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).