The United Kingdom and the European Union will fund a pilot study in an effort to quantify the skills lost to the Caribbean as a result of recruitment drives by the more developed countries.

The issue, according to Foreign Minister, Rudy Insanally, was raised during the discussions yesterday at the Third Caribbean/United Kingdom (UK) Forum, which ends today at Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel.

Briefing reporters after the discussions wrapped up yesterday, Insanally said that the UK delegation was alive to the concerns of the Caribbean and that the object of the study was not only to quantify the loss but also to see what could be done to attract back the skills that had been recruited from the Caribbean. The brain drain to the north has been a hot topic for some regional countries, including Guyana and Jamaica, which have lost thousands of teachers, nurses and doctors and other scarce skills via aggressive recruiting practices.

In addition, Insanally said, the discussions also looked at the possibilities for further funding to establish programmes that would help to protect the Caribbean territories' investment in training people who are then recruited by developed countries. He said that the Caribbean governments were in agreement on the need to find ways to keep the skills they need for development.

British Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Baroness Valerie Amos, said at an earlier press briefing that Caribbean countries and the UK, "have to accept the realities of economic migration" and the fact that this was how the world developed historically.

Amos, who was born in Guyana, said that the UK was keen to work with countries to build capacity in-country.

Asked whether the UK was not defeating its own efforts by recruiting nurses, teachers and other professionals from the region while investing in areas such as education and health, Amos said that it was difficult to get "some of the balances right in relation to those two things."

The UK is currently recruiting some 50 childhood education teachers, while Jamaica alone lost over 500 teachers after a recruitment drive undertaken by the New York City Board of Education last year. Guyana has also been a recruiting ground for teachers and health workers in the region and further afield.

This issue, the Baroness said, was discussed yesterday and some Caribbean states questioned whether it was "a cost or an opportunity." She said different views were expressed but an agreement was reached on working on this issue together. Not all Caribbean countries, she said saw the migration of skills as hurting them. Some countries, with a paucity of skills, she said, claimed their economy benefited from monies repatriated to their economies. Jamaica had raised the brain drain issue bilaterally with the UK at the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Australia.

What the meeting did was acknowledge that it was a difficult topic and agreed that the sides would try to get the balance right not only in terms of building capacity in the region but retaining skills while at the same time recognising economic migration.

Meanwhile, Insanally said that other issues dealt with included the regional economic partnership arrangements between the EU and the ACP countries in the post-Lome environment and the other partnerships that could be put in place to complement them. The possibility of the United Kingdom providing assistance in developing the negotiating skills of the region was also floated. Cooperation in the area of security, including the issue of deportees was another area examined.

Insanally explained that in relation to the latter issue, the Jamaica delegation had tabled a proposal that would provide for funds seized from the deportees to be used for assisting the Caribbean countries to address the problems arising from the deportations.

He said that in dealing with tourism related issues, the question of tourist advisories, which he said were often misleading, was considered. It was agreed that the relevant governments would be consulted before these advisories are issued.

Insanally said that environmental concerns were also aired in the context of the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development to be held later this year in South Africa.

He said that the region was monitoring the final stages of the negotiations on the various issues at the United Nations to ensure that there was a chapter in the final document on small-island and low-lying states.

He said that United Kingdom was being asked to convey the region's concerns in the fora of the European Union, which has adopted positions unhelpful to the Caribbean. He said the objective was to ensure that the gains from the summits in Rio and Barbados were not lost to the Caribbean.

Today's agenda the minister said would include the Caribbean Inward Investment Office (CIIO) and the Caribbean would need to decide on options put forward by the UK. The matter of making the debt burden sustainable would be taken up with Finance Minister Saisnarine Kowlessar making the case for Guyana and the Caribbean. HIV/AIDS with Health Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy leading the discussion for the Caribbean, the establishment of university linkages and broadening the Caribbean Festival of Arts to include the UK are also to be addressed.

Explaining the options put forward by the UK for the region's consideration in relation to the CIIO, Insanally said they included using the Internet to reach out for investment; the establishment of an office in the Caribbean to deal with the issue and service the various governments; and the establishment of a programme of activities aimed at generating investment flows into the region.

Another issue for discussion, he said, would be cooperation in judicial matters, assistance in improving the justice system and police work including surveillance.