Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the body that deals with both international trade and social issues in the region, is to benefit from an injection of €165 million (£147.7m) in funding from the European Commission as part of its ongoing support for regional integration, which could impact positively on banana producers.
The EC head of section for its delegation to Jamaica, Helen Jenkinson, said the principal objective of the EC initiative is to support trade and the wider integration movement.
She told JIS News: “The EU is a great supporter of Caribbean integration, partly from our own experience in history. We have got a lot of money that we have put in support of Caribbean integration. The message for the Caribbean is, you should work together or risk sinking individually, particularly in times of economic crisis like the present.”
Jenkinson also urged CARICOM states to capitalise on various avenues and on EU funding in areas including education, disaster management, climate change and infrastructure - all of which could potentially give benefit to agriculture.
She added: “We’re working on setting up an infrastructure trust fund. I believe CARICOM is working on a study as a first step and, clearly, improving infrastructure is essential for this region with all these separate islands.”
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