CARICOM TO RECEIVE $770,000 GRANT FROM KAZAKHSTAN

CARICOM chief Irwin LaRocque.(EFE)

San Juan, Mar 15 (EFE).- The Caribbean Community, or CARICOM, has signed an agreement with the government of Kazakhstan to receive a $770,000 grant package to strengthen its capacity in programs on climate change and sustainable development.

CARICOM Secretary-General Irwin LaRocque and Kazakhstan's ambassador to CARICOM, Konstantin Zhigalov, signed the financial support agreement in Georgetown, Guyana, the 15-member organization said in a statement.

The package is expected to help CARICOM better position itself internationally on sustainable development and climate change.

"At the level of member states, the financial support will strengthen the capacity of the foreign affairs ministries to develop national positions on those issues," CARICOM said.

Zhigalov said the agreement represented a "good start" in strengthening the relatively new partnership with CARICOM.

CARICOM includes Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.