CHRIST CHURCH, BARBADOS – CARIFORUM[1] Trade Ministers and EC officials will meet in Saint Lucia at the end of the month, to review progress in Phase II of Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations, provide political instructions on the future orientation of those negotiations and consider issues germane to Phase III. In this regard, the Second CARIFORUM-EC Ministerial Meeting will be convened September 30, preceded by the Fourth CARIFORUM-EC Meeting of Principal Negotiators, September 28. In response to requests from the regional media and civil society, the Director General of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM) and CARIFORUM Principal Negotiator for EPA Negotiations, Ambassador Dr. Richard Bernal, wrote an op ed on the EPA process (click on link to access article). [1] For the purposes of EPA negotiations, fifteen Caribbean countries constitute the regional configuration called the Caribbean Forum of ACP States (CARIFORUM); they are: Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad & Tobago.