Prime Minister Perry Christie, and the Head of the Delegation of the European Commission, Gerd Jarchow, signed a new Bahamas – EU Country Support Strategy and National Indicative Programme for the years 2003 – 2007.
The Government of The Bahamas and the European Commission have agreed that an EU contribution of $7 million of grant funding should be used for Infrastructure Maintenance and Capacity Building in the Family Islands.
The Agreement was signed Thursday during a press conference at Cabinet Office.
The Partnership Agreement between the EU and ACP, African Caribbean and Pacific States, signed in Cotoncu (Bonin), on 23 June 2000, provides the framework for ACP – EU cooperation in development and trade. The concrete implementation of development strategies is done on the basis of individual Country Support Strategies and National Indicative Programmes, which are elaborated jointly between the ACP Governments and the European Commission.
Based on the discussions with the Government of The Bahamas and with non-state actors, in which the specific situation of country was considered, it was decided that the overall objective of the new programme should be to reduce regional socio-economic imbalances in The Bahamas.
The focal area of support for the Country Strategy Paper and National Indicative Programme for the period 2003 to 2007 will thus be Infrastructure Maintenance and Capacity Building in the Family Islands. The programme will focus initially on the Islands of Andros, Eleuthera, Cat Island and San Salvador. An indicative amount of grant funding in the order of $3.9 million has been earmarked for the programme, and this figure will increase to $7 million, taking into account unspent balances under previous National Indicative Programmes.
The Country Support Strategy and National Indicative Programme also provide an allocation, of $0.6 million to cover unforeseen needs such as emergency assistance, agreed debt relief initiatives and support to help mitigate the adverse effects of instability in export earnings.
During the visit of Mr. Jarchow, who resides in Jamaica, the Government and the Commission conducted their annual Operational Review of cooperation. During the meeting, which was considered productive by both sides, key issues in. the implementation of development cooperation, as well as trade questions were discussed.
The signing of the Cotonou Agreement on June 23, 2000, heralds a new era in the cooperation between the African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries and the European Union. This new ACP-EU Partnership Agreement is based on a global strategy focussing on poverty alleviation, sustainable development and the gradual integration of ACP countries into the world economy.
It is the philosophy of the Cotonou Agreement that our co-operation follows a broad-based approach, involving at national level economic and social participants and other actors of civil society, and closely co-ordinated with other international partners.
The financial provisions of the Agreement are equally innovative, ensuring in particular, enhanced efficiency and flexibility in resource utilisation under the 9th European Development Fund. Within this framework, indicative resource allocations, which consist entirely of grants, are divided in two elements.
The first one, the so called “A” allocation covers macro-economic support, sectoral policies and programmes as well as projects in support of areas of community assistance. In this respect, an indicative amount of $3.9 million has been allocated to The Bahamas. The indicative allocation will be increased by $3.1 of unspent funds under previous National Indicative Programmes.
The second element, or the “B” allocation, covers unforeseen needs such as emergency assistance, contributions to debt relief, as well as support to mitigate adverse effects of instability in export earnings. For this purpose, an amount of $600,000 has been allocated to The Bahamas.
The amounts mentioned above are indicative only and not entitlements. The respective allocations can be revised subject to joint assessments of needs and performance. To this end, the Cotonou Agreement foresees annual reviews as well as the special mid-term and end-of-term reviews.
In addition to the indicative allocations, The Bahamas may also benefit from the new Investment Facility, which is managed by the European Investment Bank, as well as from the own resources of the Bank.
Closely linked to national programming is regional co-operation., for which special resources have been reserved.
The Nassau Guardian
