CARICOM and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) have signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation on health matters formalising policies and programmes that have already been operational, CARICOM Secretary-General, Edwin Carrington said.

Carrington, who signed on behalf of CARICOM, said that the MOU was all embracing for cooperation in many ways and included attending meetings run by each other, exchanging information and developing technical cooperation in pursuing certain critical health problems among other areas.

He said he could not think of any other area in which CARICOM has "cooperated more and for those who think that CARICOM is not functioning I would just ask them to look in this direction... they are looking in the wrong direction."

Also commenting briefly, PAHO Director Sir George Alleyne who signed on behalf of his organisation, said that he was happy to have participated in one form or the other in three previous agreements.

The agreement, he said represents the commitment of both institutions to work together for the health of the Caribbean people.

This means that the cooperation would encompass the several areas -- including mental health and HIV/AIDS -- in which the ministers of health, who attended the just concluded Council of Human and Social Development (COHSOD) meeting on health and development issues, have agreed that they will work together on.

CARICOM and PAHO have set the example of agreeing formally to work together to bring to fruition what the ministers of health have said they wanted to see happen, which he said was putting their strengths, human and financial resources together.