NewsWhore
12-16-2008, 06:50 PM
In an interview with the Barbados Advocate newspaper the Dominican Republic's ambassador to the European Union, Federico Cuello Camilo says that now is the time for the region to focus seriously on the implementation process for the European Partnership Agreement (EPA) and come to a consensus on how this would be handled on a regional level.
At the recent Cariforum Ministerial in Guyana on 26 November, Cuello highlighted the need for an intergovernmental mechanism for consensus decision-making. In his opinion that mechanism already exists in the shape of the Cariforum Council of Ministers Responsible for External Trade Negotiations. "We don't need to reinvent the wheel there, we already have the mechanism," he said.
He stated that when it comes to the institution that will have the authority to co-ordinate the region on EPA matters and its implementation, the better two options are the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) or the Caribbean Export Development Agency (CEDA).
Cuello says that CEDA is mandated to promote trade and promote investment in the region and is the only other institution, besides the CRNM that is truly a Cariforum institution. "All of us are represented on its managing board; this institution is governed by the Cariforum Council of Ministers, so whatever changes are made to its mandate can come from the Cariforum Council of Ministers directly", he explained. He also said that the most important thing is that they already have a contribution agreement with the European Commission. "So they can receive and they have already received funding from the European Commission during its 12 years of existence."
He said the DR does not favor the Caricom Secretariat because that institution has shown a lack of performance in the past, and that it already represents the Caricom states in the implementation of the Caricom-DR-FTA. He also is against the creation of a new institution, seeing as this involves new capital, new staff and a new venue. In the statement circulated to the CARIFORUM Ministerial at Guyana last 26 November, Ambassador Cuello called for a consensus decision by all CARIFORUM member states on which institution should be the regional coordinator.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#2)
At the recent Cariforum Ministerial in Guyana on 26 November, Cuello highlighted the need for an intergovernmental mechanism for consensus decision-making. In his opinion that mechanism already exists in the shape of the Cariforum Council of Ministers Responsible for External Trade Negotiations. "We don't need to reinvent the wheel there, we already have the mechanism," he said.
He stated that when it comes to the institution that will have the authority to co-ordinate the region on EPA matters and its implementation, the better two options are the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) or the Caribbean Export Development Agency (CEDA).
Cuello says that CEDA is mandated to promote trade and promote investment in the region and is the only other institution, besides the CRNM that is truly a Cariforum institution. "All of us are represented on its managing board; this institution is governed by the Cariforum Council of Ministers, so whatever changes are made to its mandate can come from the Cariforum Council of Ministers directly", he explained. He also said that the most important thing is that they already have a contribution agreement with the European Commission. "So they can receive and they have already received funding from the European Commission during its 12 years of existence."
He said the DR does not favor the Caricom Secretariat because that institution has shown a lack of performance in the past, and that it already represents the Caricom states in the implementation of the Caricom-DR-FTA. He also is against the creation of a new institution, seeing as this involves new capital, new staff and a new venue. In the statement circulated to the CARIFORUM Ministerial at Guyana last 26 November, Ambassador Cuello called for a consensus decision by all CARIFORUM member states on which institution should be the regional coordinator.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#2)