Home »

[bana2166]

CARICOM now an important trading partner for Brasilia

-Brazil ambassador

Monday, June 12th 2006

CARICOM has become an important trading partner for Brazil with its exports to Brazil in 2005 amounting to US$2.4 billion, newly-accredited Ambassador to CARICOM, Arthur Correa Meyer has said.

And trade and economic relations as well as South-South cooperation between CARICOM and Brazil are expected to expand under his stewardship, the CARICOM Secretariat said in a news release.

The career diplomat, who is currently serving as Brazil's Ambassador to Guyana, presented his credentials to CARICOM Secretary-General Edwin Carrington on Wednesday at the CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown.

The Brazil ambassador said that his country was looking forward to the resumption of negotiations between CARICOM and MERCOSUR soon, in pursuit of a free trade agreement.

He also noted that Brazil's participation in the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) was under "careful consideration" by his government. He alluded to President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva's address to CARICOM Heads of Government in February 2005 as important to "the continuous strengthening of the bonds that link Brazil and the Caribbean countries."

In welcoming Ambassador Meyer to his new post, the Secretary-General said the ambassador's appointment attests to the importance which Brazil has assigned to its relations with CARICOM.

Carrington also observed that Brazil had made tremendous social and economic strides, including the use of ethanol as an alternative source of fuel and its achievements in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

In the context of tackling HIV/AIDS, the Secretary-General said that the region welcomed Brazil's cooperation with the CARICOM-led Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP). The two sides signed an agreement in May for Brazil's free supply of antiretroviral drugs for up to 500 persons living with HIV/AIDS in the countries of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

Carrington also lauded Brazil's leadership role in the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, CARICOM's newest member state whose "return to constitutional rule," he said, had been welcomed by the Community.

The Secretary-General said that CARICOM was now enjoying closer relations with MERCOSUR as a result of Brazil's support, and the region was pleased with Brazil's endeavours to deepen the relationship between the two groupings through the "proposed CARICOM-MERCOSUR Free Trade Agreement."

He further stated that "the region is delighted that the proposed agreement would also protect the principle of special and differential treatment, necessary criterion if small states are to survive in a world increasingly characterised by trade liberalisation."

According to the release, of particular reference to the newly-emerging relationship between the two were the recent opening of an embassy in Belmopan, Belize and the imminent appointment of a resident ambassador to The Bahamas.

Ambassador Correa Meyer, whose diplomatic career spans over two decades working across continents including Asia and Africa, is a qualified economist. He holds a Doctorate in Economics from the Andres Bello Catholic University, Venezuela.