Ministers discuss cooperation, taxation, hurricane assistance policies

Cooperation on bilateral projects, European Union (EU) policies on taxation and implications of those policies for Small Island Developing States were discussed by Prime Minister Dr  Timothy Harris, who led a delegation to a high-level meeting with Ambassador of the European Union Delegation to Barbados, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Her Excellency Daniela Tramacere.

Other topics discussed during the meeting included post-hurricane assistance and post-Cotonou discussions between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. The Cotonou agreement, signed between the ACP countries and the EU in 2000, expires in February 2020. The agreement governs the political, commercial, cooperation and development relations between the two blocs.

At the meeting, an invitation was extended to Dr Harris to attend the inauguration of the new Presidency of the Council of the European Union next year. The Republic of Romania will assume the presidency in the first semester of 2019.

In attendance at the meeting were Cabinet Secretary, Josephine Huggins; Deputy Financial Secretary, Calvin Edwards; Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, Osmond Petty, and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Beverly Harris.