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( Senator the Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith (centre), Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, co-chairs the CARIFORUM/EU Dialogue on the ACP/EU post-Cotonou Arrangement held recently in Cancun, Mexico. )
Jamaica ended its one-year Chairmanship of the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States on June 30.
Senator the Honourable Kamina Johnson Smith served as the Group’s Chair, as well as its High Representative under the CARIFORUM/EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). Throughout an active year, Jamaica has coordinated, hosted and chaired meetings within CARIFORUM and between the group and the EU.
These have included meetings of the CARIFORUM/EU Council of Ministers; CARIFORUM’s meeting in March with UK Ministers of State on Brexit; consultations on the Caribbean in CELAC and on CARIFORUM’s position on the ACP/EU post Cotonou arrangement. The Minister also represented CARIFORUM at meetings of the ACP and ACP-EU Council of Ministers.
Other important CARIFORUM Meetings convened under Jamaica’s chairmanship included the CARIFORUM/EU Trade and Development Committee of the EPA; and the CARIFORUM and CARIFORUM/EU Trade in Services meetings, which included mutual recognition arrangements for architects. There were also Meetings on tariff implementation, intellectual property rights, such as geographical indications, and on customs procedures.
Jamaica also led discussions on the activation of the Cultural Cooperation Protocol between CARIFORUM and the EU under the EPA.
Trade in Services Meeting
The CARIFORUM and Joint CARIFORUM/EU Trade in Services Meetings held in Kingston, Jamaica, June 15 -16, considered matters affecting trade in services under the EPA, including the EU visa regime, and the regulatory environment in both parties for the temporary presence of natural persons.
Minister Johnson Smith’s final act as Chair came on June 22 when she co-chaired with the EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, the CARIFORUM/EU Dialogue on the ACP/EU post Cotonou Arrangement held in Cancun, Mexico. This meeting facilitated an exchange of views between the CARIFORUM Member States and the EU Commissioner on the EU’s preferred option for the post Cotonou negotiations.
St. Kitts and Nevis assumed Chairmanship of CARIFORUM as of July 1, 2017
(Senator the Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, shakes hands with European Union (EU) Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, with whom she co-chaired the CARIFORUM/EU Dialogue on the ACP/EU post-Cotonou Arrangement, held on Thursday, June 22 in Cancun, Mexico.)
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