CARICOM Development Fund Signs MOU with Commonwealth Secretariat

L to R. CARICOM Development Fund’s CEO Mr. Rodinald Soomer and Commonwealth Secretary-General Rt. Hon. Patricia Scotland QC.

As part of its strategic objective of broadening the scope of its development partnerships, the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Commonwealth Secretariat. The MOU seeks to strengthen collaboration between both institutions and leverage the resources and skills set of the two entities for the benefit of the Caribbean region and the Commonwealth family.

The areas of collaboration include:

• Energy efficiency and renewable energy
• Debt Management
• Climate change mitigation and adaptation
• Promotion of Youth Entrepreneurship
• Building capacity in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) for the CDF as well as Member States of the CARICOM Community.

Chief Executive Officer of the CDF Mr. Soomer stated that “the initiative will contribute to more sustainable, inclusive and cohesive growth and development across the Caribbean Community”. He indicated the CDF’s willingness in particular to work closely with the Commonwealth Secretariat in efforts to promote Youth Entrepreneurship in the Caribbean.

In her remarks, at the signing ceremony, Commonwealth Secretary-General Rt. Hon. Patricia Scotland indicated that “the Secretariat is committed to making this partnership a vibrant collaboration as there are mutual areas of interest that can benefit from the pooling of resources for the benefit of all stakeholders.” She added that “the collaboration will help focus on critical areas such as increasing access to concessional financing for Small and Medium-sized Entreprises (SMEs) and helping countries of the region to move towards renewable energy based economies”.