CARICOM-COTED CHALLENGED TO RE-STRATEGISE

Georgetown, May 8- The Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has been charged to rethink, re-organize and re-strategise the way the business of the Council is conducted.

The challenge was thrown out Thursday morning by Chair of COTED, the Hon Oliver Joseph, Minster of Economic Development, Trade, Planning and Cooperatives of Grenada at the opening session of the Thirty-Sixth Meeting of the Council at the Pegasus Hotel.

The Minister made the comments against the background of what he described as scepticism among segments of the Region’s stakeholders which has often weakened the case for the work of the Council.

He urged the delegates to “put proper plans in place” for a strategic retreat of the COTED that would assist in the rethink of the performance, conduct and future direction of the Council. He also called for the advancing of work to enhance the success record of the delivery of decisions.

“Such a step at this 36th meeting will send an early signal that this COTED is both concerned and responsive about changing our reputation among important stakeholder Groups, particularly among the private sector,” he said.

In brief remarks at the opening, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Guyana, the Hon. Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett also referred to the direction of the COTED and called for more cerebral thinking at the Council meetings, moving away from the routine to chart the new way forward for the integration movement.

The strategic direction of COTED is one of the matters for discussion at the two-day ministerial meeting.

CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, quoting the Hon. Kenny Anthony, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia on the need for a “big conversation” on the future of regional economies, said that the COTED needed to have an input in that dialogue, given its responsibility for promoting trade and economic development in the Community.

He noted that the agenda included a discussion on the consolidation of the gains of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), which, in the context of solutions for the Region’s situation, he identified as the best prescription, “not merely for a cure, but more importantly to create a viable, sustainable society”.

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