CARIFORUM to host Regional Consultation on effective platforms for Wider Caribbean Dialogue in Barbados this week

The Caribbean Forum of the Group of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States (CARIFORUM) will host a consultation to assess the development of a Framework for an effective platform for structured and continuous dialogue between CARIFORUM and the French Caribbean Outermost Regions (FCORs) and British and Dutch Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs).  The consultation will be held at the Radisson Barbados, April 11-12, 2018. 

According to Director General of CARIFORUM, Mr. Percival Marie, “the Regional Consultation serves to examine CARIFORUM’s relationship with the FCORs and the OCTS, which was previously promoted through four Thematic Task Forces (TTFs) in the areas of Natural Disaster Management, HIV/AIDS, Trade and Investment, and Interconnection.”

The Regional Consultation will also review the report on the operations of the four Thematic Task Forces (TTFs) and it is expected that officials will advise on the continued relevance of  this mechanism in the current social, economic and political environment and/or advise on appropriate alternative mechanisms to ensure sustainable dialogue and mechanisms for strengthened political, economic and technical cooperation.

According to Mr. Marie, this means examining whether or not relationships have deepened and widened and whether strategies agreed at the Clovis Beauregard Conference, convened in 2005, worked.

“At the end of the Consultation we expect to have a revised strategy, based on lessons learned, for deepening and expanding the relationship with the FCORs and OCTs” said Mr. Marie.

The opening of the Consultation will include a feature address by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and International Business, Barbados Senator Maxine McClean. The CARIFORUM Director General and the Ambassador of the European Union Delegation in Barbados will also speak at the opening ceremony.