Ogle Airport development to benefit from EC grant
Stabroek News
January 10, 2007
Phase 11 of the Ogle Airport Development project will benefit from part of a 40.5 million euro European Com-mission (EC) grant to advance the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).
According to a Caribbean Community Secretariat re-lease, Caricom/Cariforum and the European Union (EU) have signed a financing grant agreement for a Caribbean Integration Support Pro-gramme (CISP) to the tune of €40.5 million to support the Caribbean region in achieving regional economic integration and repositioning in the world economy.
A component of the agreement grants support to Phase II of the Ogle Airport Development in Guyana, the Caricom release said.
Caricom Secretary General Edwin Carrington and EU Commissioner for Development and Humani-tarian Aid Luis Michel signed the agreement on behalf of their respective agencies in Brussels on Monday.
The funding, which comes from the Caribbean Regional Indicative Programme of the 9th EDF (European Develop-ment Fund), is the largest and most important individual EDF package of support to the region. It is crucial for advancing work on the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), the release said.
CARICOM is contributing €900,000 to this programme.
The key programme components include supporting a range of measures to implement the CSME and general support to the CARICOM Secretariat.
The agreement covers support to the Caribbean Techni-cal Assistance Centre (CARTAC) to enable it to provide CARIFORUM countries with technical support and training on macro-economic questions and support to improve and harmonise production of economic statistical data at the regional and national levels in CARICOM.
Under the agreement, support will be extended to the external trade negotiations carried out by CARIFORUM countries, through the Barbados-based Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM). The CRNM is in charge of co-ordinating trade negotiations for the region, in particular the negotiations of the Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU. Assistance will also be given to the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) representation in Geneva dealing with WTO matters.
At the signing ceremony, Carrington said that in one agreement Caricom/-Cari-forum and the EU have been able to support the CSME; enhance Caricom/Carifourm cooperation; provide for improved and intensified activities in economic statistics, ICT and Translation and Interpretation Services; and also deal with transportation issues through support for the Ogle Airport development in Guyana.
He noted too the agreement will provide the CARICOM Secretariat with institutional support to improve its own efficiencies as well as to take on board more effectively the Cariforum technical functions, through the merger of the Caricom and Cariforum Secretariats.
The agreement covers support for the establishment and operation of the Caribbean Institute of Translation and Information to be located in Suriname; support for the development of the Caribbean Information and Communication Society; and support for the reduction of supply and demand for illegal drugs.
Carrington said that the signing of the financing agreement demonstrates "the deep cooperative spirit between the Commission, and the ACP (African, Caribbean Pacific), particularly the Caribbean group, is alive and well, and that our joint efforts in Development Finance Cooperation are yielding rewards."
Having made a "quantum leap in the programming and implementation of Caribbean Regional Programmes fin-anced by the European De-velopment Fund," Carrington said that they must now complete the process with the 9th EDF End of Term Review, bearing in mind the deadline of 2007. "We must also jointly make quick progress on 10th EDF Programming on the basis of the technical document already prepared by CARIFORUM with technical assistance from the Commission," he said.
The event marked a milestone in a process that involved a series of activities which began in Martinique at the Clovis Beauregard Con-ference on Regional Cooper-ation in the Caribbean in November 2005. During that conference the senior representatives of the Commission and of the Caribbean held a Mid-Term Review Meeting on the Caribbean Regional Indicative Programme of the 9th EDF.