CARIFORUM meeting to address serious concerns of Guyana, the region- Foreign Affairs Minister

Georgetown, GINA, March 16, 2016
Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge indicated that the 23rd Council of Ministers of CARIFORUM meeting will discuss a number of items that are of special interest to Guyana. The meeting opens on Thursday, March 17 at the Marriott Hotel, Georgetown.
While Guyana is hosting the meeting, it would be Chaired by the Republic of Haiti. Foreign Ministers from the Caribbean Forum of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (CARIFORUM) will be in attendance.
The status of implementation of the European Development Fund (EDF) is of particular concern to Guyana. This is the fund through which the European Union (EU) provides grant aid to the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.
“In the case of the 10th EDF, what happens is that having negotiation and  agreed an envelope (amount) the ACP states engage the EU periodically to look at the status of  implementation of the fund, where the difficulties have been encountered,” Minister Greenidge explained.
One of the features of the ACP-EU relationship is that there are standing platforms which provide the opportunity for the ACP states to meet with the EU and address issues pertaining to implementation.
“This has to be done almost by way of a legal requirement, it is one of the few fora …where south has an automatic and almost a legal entitlement, to discuss matters of concern to them pertaining to implementation,”  Greenidge explained, adding that this is one of the special features of the LOME Convention.

For many of the countries in the CARIFORUM grouping (Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago) the status of implementation is a challenge with difficulties at the level of the nation states and sometimes even at the level of the CARIFORUM body (secretariat), Greenidge said.
According to the Guyana Foreign Minister, one of Guyana’s main concerns is to ensure the rate of implementation is accelerated. He noted that much needed resources have been made available to the region however, due to numerous inefficiencies they cannot be utilized in a speedy process.Other concerns are the slow decision making and inability to put in place implementation mechanisms on time.
He explained  that on the EU side inefficiencies were caused not only by distance and beauracracy but also by those associated with the implementation arrangements that need to be revisited.
The meeting will also address the 1oth and 11th EDF and what is happening in terms of using the funds, putting the projects in place and ensuring monies dispersed for projects benefit those intended to benefit.
“In the case of the region many of these problems are associated with institutional inadequacies… policy making is also very slow in the region… perhaps in particular we are in the region characterized by an unwillingness to actually take hard decisions as regards priorities,” Minister Greenidge said.
The opening ceremony will feature presentations from,   H.E. Lener Renauld, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Haiti and Chair of CARIFORUM; Hon. Carl Greenidge, Vice-President  & Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Guyana; and Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, Secretary-General of CARIFORUM.