(CARIFORUM Directorate, CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) - CARIFORUM Senior Officials met recently in an Open-Ended Committee to continue preparations for the second joint review of the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

This engagement took place during the Fifth Meeting of the Committee, chaired by Ms. Margaret Ventura, the EPA Coordinator in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Belize, the current Chair of CARIFORUM. The Committee's core members include representatives from Barbados, Belize, and Dominica, with technical support provided by the CARIFORUM Directorate.

As outlined in the Joint Declaration on the signing of the EPA, a comprehensive review of the Agreement must be conducted every five years to assess its impact, including the costs and consequences of implementation.

These reviews are carried out by the Joint CARIFORUM-EU Council with the second review scheduled for later this year.