(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)  The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Council for Finance and Planning (COFAP) has established a Task Force to recommend policies, programmes and approaches to lessen the effects of the global recession on CARICOM Member States.

The establishment of the Task Force was announced following the 13th Meeting of COFAP which took place at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Bridgetown, Barbados on Thursday 29 January. Chairman of the Council, the Honourable Humphrey Hildenburg, Finance Minister of Suriname, said the Task Force was established having regard to the intensity and depth of the global economic recession.

The Council agreed that while most CARICOM governments had already taken remedial measures there were some areas where common policies could be implemented and general approaches developed.

The Task Force will operate under the following terms of reference:

• To identify the critical challenges facing CARICOM as a result of the global financial crisis and global recession;

• To identify the areas and sectors which call for priority treatment;

• To outline possible measures which could mitigate the effects of the global recession;

• To highlight those remedies which are feasible and emphasise those responses which should be avoided;

• To establish a system of continuous tracking and monitoring of the effects of the global recession on CARICOM Member States;

• To identify areas of commonality and areas of regional collaboration, including support mechanisms and strategies for approaching International Financial Institutions;

• To report to the Council for Finance and Planning (COFAP) on the findings, recommendations and strategies developed by the Task Force at a Special Meeting of the Council in late March or early April.

The Task Force with the Caribbean Development Bank in the Chair, will comprise representatives of the Ministry of Finance of St Vincent and the Grenadines and Suriname, the Committee of Central Bank Governors, the University of the West Indies, the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce, the Caribbean Congress of Labour, the CARICOM and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Secretariats, the Caribbean Centre for Money and Finance and the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery.