(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) “The 2nd CARIFORUM-EU Business Forum is a welcome addition to ongoing efforts to provide impetus to the Caribbean’s private sector to be more invested in making the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) work for the Caribbean Region, indeed its timing is propitious as there are growing calls all around for the Agreement to be leveraged more deliberately by CARIFORUM firms.” These were the sentiments of the Director General of the CARIFORUM Directorate, Mr Ivan Ogando Lora, who is heading the Directorate’s delegation to the 2nd CARIFORUM-EU Business Forum underway in London from August 8-9.

The Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) in collaboration with the African Caribbean & Pacific States Business Climate (ACP BizClim) is hosting the event.

On the first day of the meeting, Mr Ogando delivered a presentation on the state-of-play of EPA implementation, with respect to CARIFORUM, in the context of a capstone session entitled Trading with Europe – Making the CARIFORUM-EU work. Included on the panel were representatives from three Caribbean firms. They shared the experiences of their firms in the export of goods and cultural Services, respectively, to Europe. While they admitted that there are opportunities, they also pointed to challenges. In ensuing discussions, entry challenges to the EU market were highlighted, particularly with respect to Services-related regulatory encumbrances. Market intelligence deficits faced by the Caribbean’s private sector operators wishing to break through the EU market were also seen as looming large.

For their part, CARIFORUM states have faced a confluence of factors that have impeded efforts to take advantage of the EPA, not the least of which are capacity and sensitization deficits, but also the debilitating effects of the global downturn on the Region’s small, vulnerable economies. These challenges and others will form part of deliberations at the two-day meeting as will opportunities, with respect to investment possibilities within the Caribbean and Europe. In this regard, the Forum is to be especially seized of the manufacturing and cultural industries. The second day will enable an even more in-depth look at the issues, as it will follow a breakout session format which is to be primarily focused on the results of recently concluded Study Tours to the United Kingdom, Germany and France. In particular, it will focus on issues related to Standards, Intellectual Property, Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary requirement, Market Intelligence and Technical Assistance.

The fifteen signatory Caribbean Forum of African, Caribbean and Pacific (CARIFORUM) States to the EPA are the independent CARICOM Member States and the Dominican Republic.