Greater Georgetown, Guyana – The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and United Nations (UN) System have acknowledged the need to move towards a more coherent engagement in their longstanding partnership.
The acknowledgement came Friday at the conclusion of the two-day Sixth General Meeting between representatives of CARICOM and the UN System at the CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown.
The Meeting found that the UN-CARICOM Regional Strategic Framework (RSF) under which the partnership was operating, was no longer the most appropriate instrument to coordinate UN activities in the Region.
In a communiqué issued at the end of the Meeting, participating UN agencies, departments, funds and programmes committed to initiating dialogue on a more appropriate coordination mechanism to enhance coherence and effectiveness within the UN system in its engagement with the Community. This will be done in partnership with the CARICOM Secretariat and Community Institutions.
Seven broad areas were identified as crucial areas for collaboration between the two organizations. Priority areas identified were climate change, sustainable development and disaster management, energy, regional security, food security and food safety, human development including health, education, gender and youth, and the role of Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D).
CARICOM also reiterated the need to identify concrete projects in specific areas of priority which will yield impact on the ground, ensuring maximum, measurable and concrete benefits to the citizens of the Region.
