Rose elected lead spokesman of Cariforum Consultative Committee

The final piece in the architecture of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), signed in 2008 by the European Union and the CARIFORUM (CARICOM plus the Dominican Republic), was put in place last week in Brussels with the establishment of the CARIFORUM/EU Consultative Committee.{{more}}

This body is a joint one, made up of civil society representatives from the CARIFORUM region (25 persons) and 15 counterparts from the EU. It has responsibility for “promoting dialogue and cooperation between representatives of the organisations of civil society” in both regions, and for “monitoring the implementation of all economic, social and environmental aspects” of the EPA.

The Consultative Committee is the final one of the four main institutions to be established under the EPA, which have responsibility for the implementation, monitoring and review of the Agreement. The others are the Joint Council (Ministerial level), the highest of the institutions, the Trade and Development Committee (senior officials), and the Parliamentary Committee.

On November 13 and 14, the Consultative Committee met for the first time at the headquarters of the European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels. The official opening ceremony was addressed by representatives of the European Commission, the host institution, the European parliament, the director general of CARIFORUM, Percival Marie, as well as the elected heads of the two component delegations of the Committee, Brenda King on the European side, and Renwick Rose, chair of the Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC).

Rose, in his capacity as CPDC chair, was elected to be lead spokesman for the CARIFORUM contingent at a meeting of the Caribbean delegation on November 12, held at the ACP Secretariat. He will be the Caribbean counterpart to King, who chairs the full Committee this year, in keeping with the overall EPA arrangements. CARIFORUM will assume the chair next year.

Rose has described the meeting as being “a fruitful first step” and has expressed his gratitude for the confidence reposed in him, and the CPDC, by his colleagues, pledging to live up to their expectations. He has also praised the contributions of his colleagues during the meeting.