Towards A Stronger Caribbean - May 2017

CARICOM www.caricom.org

Caribbean Development Bank www.caribank.org

European Union europa.eu/europeanunion/index_en

The EPA and CSME Standby Facilities for Capacity Building at Work

The European Union and the Caribbean

The CSME Standby Facility Project “Developing the Export-Readiness of Suriname’s Agrifood Enterprises for The CARICOM Market” is assisting women in the Brokopondo District of Suriname make Cassava porridge for export to the Caribbean.”

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ncreasing the capacity of Antiguans in the agricultural and arts and crafts sectors to export their products within CARICOM. Increasing exports from Trinidad and Tobago to five nontraditional markets in the European Union (EU). Establishing a Caribbean Centre of Excellence for Financial Services in The Bahamas.

These are just three of the twenty-eight projects underway as part of the EPA and CSME Standby Facilities for Capacity Building. The two Facilities, managed by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) with funding of US$9 million, are part of the ongoing effort of the EU to give support to the countries of CARICOM in their implementation of the CSME and the EPA.

The CSME

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Single Market and Economy, better known by its acronym CSME, is an arrangement set up by among the CARICOM Member States to create an open marketplace that gives the people of the Caribbean Community more and better employment opportunities. Under the CSME, people are also able to produce and sell their goods and services more easily throughout CARICOM, and to attract outside investment to the region. The CSME makes these things possible by removing restrictions that have stood in the way of the free movement of goods, services, people, capital and technology.

There are currently 12 countries in CARICOM participating in CSME. They are Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.

Haiti has signed the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing the CSME, and is currently going through the necessary legal, regulatory and administrative changes in order to fully participate.

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Project Multimedia

A traditional welcome awaits visitors to the village where Cassava porridge is made as part of the CSME Standby Facility Project “Developing the Export-Readiness of Suriname’s Agrifood Enterprises for The CARICOM Market”

Video interview: Ms. Dennie of the Bureau of Standards Jamaica explains some of the benefits of the project.

The 10th European Development Fund (EDF) Caribbean Regional Indicative Programme (CRIP) Funding for the EPA and CSME Standby Facilities for Capacity Building has been provided by the European Union via the The 10th European Development Fund. The Fund has provided approximately €1 billion for the implementation of the national and regional programmes in the Caribbean.

The 10th EDF Caribbean Regional Indicative Programme (€165 million), focuses solely on the issue of ‘Regional Integration and Cooperation’, with the aim of supporting the various integration processes in which CARIFORUM countries are involved as well as on EPA implementation.

The main projects funded under the 10th EDF are Economic Integration and Trade of OECS; CSME and EPA implementation programmes; the

Regional Private Sector Development; and the bi-national Haiti/Dominican Republic project.

There are seven components to The Fund, with the issue of Caribbean Regional Integration being addressed in component seven. The goals contained in that component are to put an efficient mechanism in place to provide funding for projects that foster capacity building measures for CARIFORUM to implement the CARIFORUMEU EPA at the national level; build capacity for projects that target EPA implementation at the national level; and to enhance the capacity of CARIFORUM states to implement EPA related activities is enhanced.

This subcomponent is managed by the Caribbean Development Bank.

The European Union and the Caribbean continued from page 1

The EPA

Editor: Robert Dabney Design: Myra Coffield

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| May 2017

EPA is the acronym used when discussing the CARIFORUM – EU Economic Partnership Agreement.

(CARIFORUM is the grouping of the 15 Caribbean Community member countries along with the Dominican Republic that is the base for economic dialogue with the European Union.)

Following decades of a partnership involving trade and development, the EU and CARIFORM signed the EPA in 2008. The goals of the EPA are to make it easier for people and businesses from both regions to invest in and trade with each other; to help further

Boatbuilders on Carriacou, an island in the nation of Grenada, practicing their craft. The Grenada National Training Agency is implementing the CSME project “Enhancing the Capacity of Grenadian Nationals to Take Advantage of CSME” which will strengthen the boat building and yacht repair sectors of the nation’s economy.

development across the Caribbean, and to support the integration of the countries of CARIFORUM into the world economy.

Bureau of Standards Jamaica www.bsj.org.jm

Packaging Consultant, Ms. Cheryl Sullivan making her presentation at the Packaging Seminar for Product Manufacturers on 15 June 2016 at the Courtleigh Hotel & Suites in Kingston, Jamaica..

Featured Project

The Development and Expansion of Jamaica’s Packaging Industry

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n 2015, exports from Jamaica totalled over US$1 billion or roughly $375 for every person in the country. While the country is known for its export of bauxite – the world’s primary source of aluminium – Jamaica also manufactures and packages several products for export, among them beverages and spirits, (world famous Jamaican rum and coffee!), sugar, spices, confectionaries, vegetables and condiments. Every one of these items must be packaged for export, and that packaging must meet the standards set by respective importing countries.

The European Union, through the CSME Standby Facility for Capacity Building, is funding the project “Establishment of the Bureau of Standards Packaging Laboratory.” This US$273,881 project, which is managed by the Caribbean Development Bank, has been designed to upgrade the Packaging Centre operated by the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ), enabling the BSJ to test packaging materials used in industry; verify packaging quality; and

regulate, and provide technical advisory services on packaging standards.

In an interview, Marsha Dennie, the Coordinator of the project at the Bureau of Standards, stated that a packaging consultant was retained to conduct an industry study that included analysing the state of the local and global packaging industries, as well as identifying the needs of Jamaican packaging suppliers and product manufacturers and importers. The consultant also made recommendations on how BSJ can meet those needs through the provision of packaging testing and other related services.

In June, 2016, the consultant, Cheryl Sullivan, shared the results of the study with industry stakeholders during a series of packaging seminars at Kingston’s Courtleigh Hotel & Suites. Sullivan revealed information on trends in the areas of product safety; food safety initiatives; product security; sustainability initiatives, and consumer trends.

According to Project Coordinator Dennie, the project will result in upgraded laboratories in the packaging centre at the BSJ and “providing the laboratory staff with the requisite competence to provide packaging testing and other services.”

The CSME project is also funding a redesign of the website of the Bureau of Standards Jamaica and the development of websites for National Certification Body, and the National Compliance and Regulatory Authorities of Jamaica.

In this video interview, Ms. Dennie of the Bureau of Standards Jamaica explains some of the benefits of the project.

Another benefit to be gained from the project will be Jamaica’s ability to better defend local manufacturers against unfair trading practices, and focus on marketing its packaging services not only within the country, but to the wider CARICOM region as well.

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