(CARIFORUM Directorate, CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) - On Wednesday May 14, the Oversight Committee of the new Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) project under the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Support Programme, funded by the European Union (EU), met to review and validate the Work Programme of the project.

Director General of CARIFORUM, Ms. Alexis Downes- Amsterdam attended the inaugural meeting of the Technical Oversight Committee of the TTBT Phase III Programme, shared CARIFORUM’s expectations and thanked the EU for its continued support.

Funding for this Project is drawn from the Caribbean Regional Multi-Annual Indicative Programme (2021-2027), under the EU’s new financing instrument, the Neighbourhood, Development, and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) that facilitates technical and financial support to developing countries for sustainable development, peace and stability.

The goal of the TBT Project is to strengthen the use of an internationally recognised Regional Quality Infrastructure (RQI) by regional and national quality institutions in CARIFORUM States such as the Bureau of Standards and the private sector, to support interregional and international trade.

Signed in 2008, the Economic Partnership Agreement between the CARIFORUM countries and the EU is a fundamental cornerstone in this relationship to boost trade and investment between the two regions. Despite support for implementation of the Agreement, challenges remain at national levels, due to limited capacities.

The TBT Project is therefore supporting the establishment of quality infrastructure including standardisation, testing, inspection and certification of products and services to ensure they are safe and of high quality.