Premier Dr. Orlando Smith recently launched his chairmanship of the Overseas Countries and Territories Association during an April 1-2 visit to Brussels, Belgium.
While meeting with European Union officials and stakeholders, he discussed partnerships and programmes for the benefit of the 26 OCTs associated with the EU, according to Government Information Services.
Dr. Smith also held talks at the European Commission with Marcus Cornaro, deputy director general of the Directorate General for Development and Cooperation — Europe Aid.
The two officials discussed plans for the 13th OCT-EU Forum, which will be held in the VI. Environmental issues were also on the agenda, as were discussions about EU support for conserving the biodiversity of the OCTs.
Additionally, the premier hosted a reception where he introduced himself as OCTA chairman to various OCTA partners.
In his remarks, Dr. Smith highlighted the importance of partnerships and cooperation in promoting sustainable development in the OCTs.
“We must collaborate across a number of areas such as trade, environment, renewable energy and waste management to meet our sustainability goals,” he said. “The EU, ACP and Outermost Regions are key partners for the OCTs in these endeavours and OCTA looks forward to strengthening our relationships with them.”
The premier also met with Ashley Fox, a United Kingdom member of the European Parliament. They discussed the establishment of an OCT European Parliament Group in the coming months to support the interests of the OCTs in the parliament, according to GIS.
Meanwhile, BVI London Office Director Kedrick Malone and Deputy Director Benito Wheatley met the secretary general of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of Countries Secretariat on behalf of the premier.
Among other matters, they discussed economic cooperation and programming between the OCTs and ACP countries in the Caribbean and Pacific, according to GIS.
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