From International Labour Organization (ILO)

REGIONAL BIPARTITE MEETING: Challenges to CARIFORUM Labour, Private Sector and Employers to fulfil their EPA Obligations*

Location: Grenadian by Rex Resorts, Point Salines, Grenada

Date: Tuesday, 03 November 2015
Time: 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Registration of Participants / 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Opening Ceremony

Welcome Remarks: Ms. Claudia Coenjaerts, Director, ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean

Remarks: Mr. Wayne Chen, President, Caribbean Employers’ Confederation

Remarks: Mr. David Massiah, President, Caribbean Congress of Labour

Remarks: Dr. Olivia Smith, Deputy Programme Manager, Free Movement and Labour, CARICOM Single Market and Economy Unit

Keynote Address: The Honourable Elvin Nimrod, MP, Minister of Labour, Grenada

ILO Media Advisory: Caribbean Employers’ and Workers’ Organizations to meet in Grenada

Port of Spain – 30 Oct 2015 – A Regional Bipartite Meeting organized by the ILO together with the Caribbean Employers’ Confederation (CEC) and the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL) will take place from 3-5 November 2015 at the Grenadian by Rex Resorts, Point Salines, Grenada.

The Regional Bipartite Meeting follows a series of national workshops which were held between July and October 2015 in 14 CARIFORUM member States: St Lucia; Grenada; Dominica; Antigua and Barbuda; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Haiti; Jamaica; Belize; the Bahamas, Barbados; St Vincent and the Grenadines; Suriname; Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. These national workshops determined joint points of action to formalize and institutionalize national social dialogue, and identified priority areas of concern. At the Regional Meeting each member State will report back on the actions agreed at the national workshops. Representatives from Caribbean Employers’ and Workers’ Organizations will also develop positions on social and economic issues to be furthered at the Regional level.

The meetings form part of a three-year project* funded by the European Union (EU) and executed by the ILO, which seeks to build capacity of Caribbean regional Employers’ and Workers’ Organizations so that they can make substantive contributions to policy-setting aimed at regional development and the integration process, and thus fulfil their obligations under the Social Aspects Chapter of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

“The project is also an opportunity to develop and build on the ILO structures that are so critical to bring about sustainable policies, programmes and strategies needed to implement the Decent Work Agenda and fulfil CARIFORUM’s commitment to good governance and the implementation of the EPA.” stated Ms. Claudia Coenjaerts, Director, ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean. “In order to build and deliver a coherent programme of ILO support in any country, it must be based on and owned by all three of our constituents, the Government, the workers and employers… Tripartism is the ILO’s fundamental strength and it allows us to bring together many experiences and perspectives.”