(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Government of France has identified as priority areas of cooperation with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), enhancing the rule of law, combatting all forms of trafficking, and providing assistance on sustainable development and poverty alleviation.

Those and other areas were outlined by new French Ambassador to CARICOM. H.E. Jean-Paul Dumont when he presented his letters of credence to CARICOM Secretary-General H.E. Edwin Carrington at the CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana on Wednesday April 18, 2007.

Ambassador Dumont said that with regard to enhancing the rule of law and supporting governance, experts and civil servants from the French Departments of America (FDAs), metropolitan France, and Europe, will be dispatched to boost State and local administrations in areas such as justice, local management and financial governance.

In the area of fighting all forms of trafficking, the ambassador said that the Martinique-based Central Office of Repression of Illegal Trafficking of Narcotics and the Inter-ministerial Centre for Anti-Drug Training are conducting activities that will benefit both Europe and the Caribbean.

Facilities in the FDAs such as modern university hospitals, university and research institutes, as well as prevention and intervention resources to cope with natural disasters and to combat HIV will provide assistance in the fields of sustainable development and poverty alleviation.

Among the infrastructure-related projects now underway are:

• Projects to develop geothermic power with the help of the French Development Agency and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Organisation of American States (OAS), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the French Global Environment Facility (FFEM) in St. Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, and Saint Lucia
• A natural gas pipeline from Trinidad to the FDAs
• High bandwidth digital cable

In addition to the areas of cooperation now being pursued, Ambassador Dumont said he has been charged with resuming and completing negotiations for a framework cooperation agreement with CARICOM. A draft, which he said had been largely inspired by agreements already concluded by CARICOM, is currently being submitted to the various French administrations for review.

In remarks at the function, Secretary General Carrington pointed out that CARICOM’s relations with France were conducted not only directly, but also within the context of Europe, specifically within the context of the EU-CARIFORUM-ACP partnership envisioned in the Contonou Agreement,

“As negotiations continue for an Economic Partnership Agreement between Europe and CARIFORUM countries, the Europe/France/CARICOM relationship finds itself poised to begin a new phase – one which can only be enhanced by a stronger direct CARICOM-France relationship,” the Secretary General said.

He added that other opportunities for enhancing the CARICOM-France relations presented themselves in the context of the European Union-Latin American and the Caribbean (EU-LAC) forum and in the Association of Caribbean States (ACS). France has been an associate member of the ACS for 11 years.