COMMISSIONER in charge of International Cooperation and Development in the European Commission Neven Mimica is leading a high-level delegation to Jamaica to hold regional and bilateral talks with the Government and members of Cariforum on the successor to the Cotonou Agreement, which will expire in 2020.

He is expected to be in he island from April 12-15.

Mimica will, during the visit, sign two financing agreements with Jamaica valued at over $ 2.8 billion, under the 11th European Development Fund, to support the Public Financial Management Reform Programme and address environmental and climate change challenges through improved forest management.

The visit of Commissioner Mimica, who is the EU’s chief negotiator on the new ACP-EU Partnership, comes at a time when negotiations between Cariforum and the EU to create a modern partnership beyond 2020 have formally commenced.

“The challenges facing the world today, such as climate change and citizen security, are very different from when the Cotonou Agreement was adopted almost two decades ago. The meetings will provide an opportunity to discuss the way forward in shaping a modern partnership focused on the common interests of the EU and the Caribbean, with whom we share a long-standing partnership,” head of delegation of the EU to Jamaica Ambassador Malgorzata Wasilewska said in a statement yesterday.

During the visit, the EU commissioner will meet with senior officials of Cariforum and hold bilateral talks with senior officials and country leaders, including Jamaica’s Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Senator Kamina Johnson Smith. Commissioner Mimica will also tour sections of Kingston to see first-hand some of the challenges the country is facing as it relates to crime and security.

Jamaica recently held the chair of the Cariforum group within the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group, and also held the presidency of the ACP in 2018.

The Cotonou Partnership Agreement is the legal framework governing relations between the EU and 79 countries in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States. It is said to be one of the oldest and most comprehensive frameworks of cooperation between the EU and third countries. Signed in 2000 for a period of 20 years, the agreement unites more than 100 countries.