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OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, June 11, 2015
PM Simpson Miller Concludes Economic Cooperation Talks at EU-CELAC Summit
Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller on Thursday (June 11) ended her participation in a
two-day summit of Heads of State and Government of the 28-member European
Union (EU) and the 33 countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean
States (CELAC).The EU is the leading foreign investor in the CELAC region and is its
second largest trade partner. The summit was held under the joint presidency of the
President of the European Council, Donald Tusk; President of the European
Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker; and Pro Tempore President of CELAC, President
Rafael Correa of Ecuador.
In the final engagement over the two days, the Prime Minister led the Jamaican
delegation in a meeting between the EU and the CARIFORUM group of countries on
Thursday afternoon. CARIFORUM includes 14 member states of the 15-member
Caribbean Community and the Dominican Republic.
On Thursday morning, the EU and CELAC leaders met at a retreat to discuss
international issues and developments. At the retreat Prime Minister Simpson Miller
spoke about some of the major issues of concern to Jamaica. These included the
need for greater levels of development financing for developing countries within the
framework of the Post 2015 Development Agenda, as well as practical on-the-ground
programmes to prevent and respond to the effects of climate change. Prime Minister
Simpson Miller also pressed for changes to be made to the existing classification of
some developing countries as “middle income” thus locking them out of the
possibility for greater levels of funding for development and other economic support.
The Prime Minister also convened a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Spain,
Mariano Rajoy Brey on Thursday and also held a bilateral meeting with the Prime
Minister of Sweden, Stefan Lofven on Wednesday. The bilateral meetings reviewed
several areas of cooperation between Jamaica and the two EU countries and
identified additional areas of cooperation to be pursued.
Technology transfer, agriculture and agro-processing formed a major part of the talks
with Spain. In addition to exchanging views on financing for the development, and
the commitment of Jamaica and Sweden to programmes for the mitigation of the
effects of climate change, Prime Ministers Simpson Miller and Lofven spoke of the
commitment of their governments to prudent macro-economic management, trade
and investment facilitation, employment creation, gender equality, the protection of
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NEWS RELEASE - PM Simpson Miller Concludes Economic Cooperation Talks at EU-CELAC Summit
children and social programmes for the most vulnerable segments of their
populations.
Two plenary sessions of the EU-CELAC summit on Wednesday, chaired by the
President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, explored ways to reinvigorate the biregional partnership between the EU and CELAC countries and addressed the
different challenges faced by both groups and how they could increase bi-regional
cooperation to address them. These challenges were identified as including climate
change, security, drug trafficking and issues pertaining to the Post 2015 Development
Agenda.
The outcome of the meeting include a joint agreement for increased cooperation in
several areas such as migration, the fight against illicit drugs, poverty reduction and
climate change, as well as a restatement of the EU’s support for CELAC countries.
The European Commission also announced over 800 million Euros in support to the
Caribbean and Latin American region. This includes 346 million Euros in funding for
programmes in the Caribbean up to 2020. The Commission said that over the period
there will be an EU contribution of 118 million Euros for strategic investment projects,
230 million Euros to support the efforts towards the sustainable development of Latin
America and the Caribbean, 81.5 million Euros to finance capacity building projects
linking European and Latin American higher education institutions, and around 25
million Euros for a new fibre-optic cable connecting Europe and Latin America.
The summit received reports from the Seventh CELAC-EU Trade Unions Forum and the
Eighth Meeting of CELAC-EU Civil Society held in March this year; as well as the Youth
Forum held in April and the First Forum of Mayors, which was held on June 4. Reports
were also received from the EU-CELAC Academic Summit held June 8 to 9 and an
EU-CELAC Business Summit on June 10.
European Union assistance to the Caribbean countries is mainly channeled through
the European Development Fund (EDF). European Union Commission publications
have noted that for the period 2014 to 2020, the overall allocation from the EDF to the
Caribbean was projected at around one billion Euros, focused largely on projects in
renewable energy, health, competitive economy, climate change and public
administration reform including public finance and justice.
The EU is the main source of grant funding to Jamaica and last year the EU allocated
46 Million Euros in development assistance to Jamaica under the 11 th EDF. Jamaica
has had a longstanding relationship with the EU spanning 40 years. Over this period,
the EU is reported to have contributed an estimated J$170 billion in development
assistance to Jamaica for projects and programmes covering a wide range of areas.
These areas include education, agriculture, security, justice reform, public financial
management, tax reform, small business development, poverty alleviation, youth and
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NEWS RELEASE - PM Simpson Miller Concludes Economic Cooperation Talks at EU-CELAC Summit
Community development, rural development, physical infrastructure and climate
change.
Some specific programmes in recent times have included the Sugar Transformation
Programme, the J$1.7 Billion Sugar Estates Barracks Relocation Project, the Banana
Support Programme and construction of the North-Coast Highway.
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