Press Release: CARIFORUM-EU Parliamentary Committee inaugurated The first meeting of the CARIFORUM-EU Parliamentary Committee was held

on June 15th 16th, 2011 in Brussels, bringing together MEPs with Parliamentarians from Caribbean countries that are signatories of the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union.

The body elected its two Co-Presidents, David Martin (S&D, UK) and Surujrattan Rambachan (Trinidad and Tobago). Mr. Martin noted that constituting this body is a crucial step in enhancing parliamentary scrutiny and control of trade policy. "Our task does not end with ratification, we also have to comply with our joint responsibility to follow up on the agreements we have ratified," he said.

The participants heard from EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht about the current state of play in implementing the agreement, as well as the status of the Doha round negotiations. They also debated two specific issues of concern for Caribbean countries: the support to the banana producing sector in the CARIFORUM region, following last year's resolution of the so-called "banana wars" and the question of rum imports, as Caribbean producers claim to be victims of preference erosion and unfair competition due to misleading labeling practices used by other producers.

Background The Economic Partnership Agreement between the CARIFORUM States of the Caribbean region and the EU was signed in October of 2008. It stipulates the establishment of a Parliamentary Committee to oversee the implementation of the agreement. A meeting of the Trade and Development Committee, which brings together senior officials from both sides to work on technical implementation details, just met on 9-10 June in Barbados.

Source: - European Parliament Website for CARIFORUM-EU