Guyana becomes 14th signatory to the CARIFORUM-EC EPA

Thirteen CARIFORUM Member States and Europe signed the CARIFORUM-European Community (EC) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) on October 15th 2008.

On October 20, the Head of Mission of Guyana to the European Community (EC), H.E. Ambassador Patrick Gomes, appended his signature to
the Agreement on behalf of the Government of Guyana at the Headquarters of the Council of the European Union in Brussels.

The Government of Haiti, which is addressing national hurricane recovery priorities, has requested more time to review the EPA. The Agreement will officially enter into force pending the completion of the process of ratification by the member states. However, until then CARIFORUM and Europe will provisionally apply the EPA. Through provisional application both sides will be able to benefit from the terms of the Agreement.

Once provisional application is in effect, CARIFORUM Member States can turn their attention to the task
of EPA implementation. Since inputs and responsibilities will vary from one entity to another, effective implementation will require the Heads of Government and COTED to clearly establish those individual and collective responsibilities and to harmonize the associated inputs so that efforts can be synchronized
and implementation effected in a timely fashion.

Source: Caribbean Regional
Negotiating Machinery www.crnm.org