COTED EXAMINING REGION’S ENERGY SITUATION

Georgetown, March 25- Amidst the current volatility of oil prices on the world market, Ministers responsible for Energy in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) are gathering in Georgetown to examine the region’s response.

The Thirty-Fifth Special Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) began on Tuesday, with the Ministerial Meeting scheduled for today.

“COTED will scrutinize an overview of the energy situation and trends in CARICOM as well as national and regional responses to global developments. The Ministers are expected to consider, endorse and provide direction to those responses,” a statement from the CARICOM Secretariat said.

“Further, they will review a report on a Regional Energy Sector Assessment commissioned by the CARICOM Secretariat with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in 2010,” it added. That assessment was conducted to help make clear the energy situation in CARICOM and to inform strategic responses.

The Ministers will also consider the Draft CARICOM Energy Policy, which was developed by a Task Force comprising representatives of Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. The policy is intended to address issues such as security of energy supplies, energy pricing policy and the impact on relative competitiveness in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, and purchasing and transportation arrangements.

Since the submission of the Draft Policy, a number of developments impacting the energy sector have taken place at the global, regional and national levels.

Against that backdrop, the Ministers will re-examine the Draft Energy Policy and conduct a Gap Analysis to update the recommendations.

The Ministers will engage on other topics including sustainable energy development in CARICOM; integration of energy systems; opportunities for financing sustainable energy; and matters pertaining to energy services and development within the context of the CARICOM-Canada Trade Negotiations.

<