EPA, CSME Standby Facilities to aid region

CARICOM member states have been allocated £3.45 million to help enhance their capacity building via a CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) Standby Facility and a further £3.5 million, through an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Standby Facility.

Last Friday marked the launch of the European Union (EU) funded EPA & CSME Stand by Facilities at the Accra Beach Hotel, which saw representatives of the EU Delegation to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, the Caribbean Development Bank and other key stakeholders coming together to celebrate the launch.

The small ceremony was chaired by Mikael Barfod, Head of the EU Delegation to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, but it was Jolita Butkeviciene, Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, EuropeAid, who noted that two agreements were signed with the CDB partner for both the CSME Standby Facility and the EPA Standby Facility, and one million of the close to seven million euros allotted for the facilities, have already been disbursed.

The aim is to allow CARICOM member states, through the Caribbean Development Bank, to get grant resources from those standby facilities, to build capacity at the national level, both in respect of the CSME and the EPA.

Direct beneficiaries as explained by Valarie Pilgrim, CDB Programme Director, will be agencies involved in implementation of national EPA/CSME focal points.

Pilgrim explained that in terms of allocation of funds under the EPA facility, Haiti has been allotted £466 000 and all other CARIFORUM states will have access to between 150 000 and 210 000 euros, while the limit for the CSME facility is 194 000 to 237 000 euros.

Pilgrim noted that while there is much flexibility in terms of what can be funded, eligible projects will have to be “results focused” and project outcomes must be able to be measured. The CDB will give assistance where it can, if applications need strengthening.

Other key persons addressing the gathering were Ivan Ogando, Director General of the CARIFORUM Directorate and Dr. Warren Smith, President of the Caribbean Development Bank.

Smith, in his address, noted that the bank was indeed happy to partner with the EU on this project, given the region’s developmental challenges and the need to render some assistance to countries of the region.

He described it as a smart partnership that can lead to good outcomes. (RSM)