Steering Committee

Steering Committee of Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Center Discusses Continuing Regional Training Agency

Press Release No. 07/96
May 14, 2007

On May 8, 2007, members of the Steering Committee of the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC) located in Barbados convened for a one-day meeting in Port of Spain to review the performance of CARTAC over the past year and discuss the future of the region's technical training body. CARTAC, a UNDP project executed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is a multi-donor-funded agency established in 2001 that serves twenty Caribbean countries, including the English speaking CARICOM, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Suriname. Its mission is capacity building through technical assistance to governments, workshops, seminars, and professional attachments in and outside the region. The Steering Committee is CARTAC's governing body, comprising senior representatives of member countries as well as donor countries and organizations.

CARTAC's core responsibilities cover five key areas: financial programming and macroeconomic analysis; financial sector stability; public financial management; statistics; and tax and customs reform. Technical assistance (TA) is provided by a core team of advisers with the support of international and regional experts. The delivery of CARTAC's TA is driven by the needs of the region, and seeks to help promote capacity building in CARICOM.

CARTAC is in the final year of its second three-year cycle (Phase II, 2005-07). Discussions at the May 8 meeting focused on the work program for the remainder of 2007, and the direction and funding for a third 3-year Phase. Members also discussed ways to promote greater participation of member countries and to make operations of CARTAC as effective and useful as possible.

In considering the region's capacity building needs over the next three-year cycle, the Steering Committee noted the continuing, and indeed growing, demand for CARTAC's services as evidenced by the large number of countries' requests for assistance. Members endorsed CARTAC's work program for the remainder of 2007, including the emphasis on the tax and customs area to help those countries undergoing tax reforms (such as the introduction of value-added taxes) .

On Phase III, the Steering Committee agreed to intensify capacity building in the financial sector area to help further the orderly development of capital markets in the region. At the same time, the Committee endorsed CARTAC's continued focus in the other core areas currently covered by its activities.

CARTAC's Phase II costs (for the period 2005-07) are estimated at about US$20 million and are fully covered by existing member contributions. For the next three-year phase, members anticipated the need for contributions of at least the same order of magnitude, and following endorsement from regional governments, will initiate a fund-raising drive to encourage donors to meet the programme's resource needs.

The next meeting of the Steering Committee will be held in St. Kitts & Nevis in November 2007.

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European Oil Stocks, BP Decline; Air France, Ryanair Advance

April 4 (Bloomberg) -- European energy stocks dropped as oil prices fell, fueling concern that earnings at BP Plc and Total SA will decline. Benchmarks in the region were little changed.

Air France-KLM Group and Ryanair Holdings Plc led gains by airlines as investors bet fuel costs will drop. Royal Ahold NV rose to the highest in more than four years on speculation it will merge with Belgium's Delhaize Group.

The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index climbed 0.1 percent to 379.67 at 10:45 a.m. in London. The Stoxx 50 was little changed and the Euro Stoxx 50, a measure for the 13 nations sharing the euro, advanced 0.2 percent.

The Stoxx 600 Index is now less than three points shy of a six-year high reached on Feb. 19 as a flurry of takeovers offset concern the U.S. economy is slowing. A report today may show growth at U.S. service industries picked up last month from the lowest level in almost four years.

``The positive fundamental environment for stocks hasn't changed,'' said Christoph Berger, who helps manage about $75 billion at Cominvest Asset Management in Frankfurt. ``We're seeing the correction of the correction.''

The Institute for Supply Management's index of non- manufacturing businesses, which make up almost 90 percent of the economy, rose to 55 from 54.3 the prior month, according to the median forecast of 67 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Readings above 50 signal expansion.

National benchmarks rose in 14 of 18 markets in western Europe. France's CAC 40 added 0.2 percent, and Germany's DAX gained 0.3 percent. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 slid 0.1 percent.

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