European Union, CDB Launch Standby Facility for Capacity Building
The European Union (EU) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) on February 13 launched the new round of a EUR8.7 million programme designed to make Caribbean businesses better equipped to access new trade opportunities.

The programme - the CARIFORUM-European Union Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) Standby Facility for Capacity Building - will be financed by the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) and administered by CDB.

Speaking at the launch in St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Immigration, the Honourable E.P. Chet Greene, welcomed the Standby Facility, noting that “as small developing States, there is a need for us to become more economically resilient.”

Projects under the previous facility included one to support the accreditation of the Belize Citrus Growers Association Laboratory and another to improve the Bureau of Standards of Jamaica Packaging Laboratory.