Christ Church -- July 16, 2009 -- In the future, the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) will be referred to as the Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN).
The name change was one of a number of decisions taken at the 30th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) held 2- 4 July 2009 in Guyana.

Implementation matters have arisen subsequent to a broader decision the Heads adopted earlier this year to reform the governance of the CRNM. During its Twentieth Inter- Sessional Meeting held March 12-13 2009 in Belize, the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM deliberated CRNM’s governance
and took a decision to “incorporate the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) into the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat as a Specialised
Department recognizing and providing for the special nature of its role and functions; The CRNM, as the Office of Trade Negotiations of the CARICOM Secretariat will
report only to the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) and, by extension, to the Heads of Government through the Secretary General of the
CARICOM Secretariat.

Until now, the CRNM reported directly to the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee (PMSC) on External Negotiations, which was chaired by the Prime
Minister of Jamaica. It also reported to the COTED but the PMSC also served as a quick consult mechanism whenever negotiations reached a deadlock and an urgent decision was needed by the Region. No explicit mechanism has been identified to replace this body.

In addition, the mandate of the former CRNM has been extended to include responsibility for all external trade negotiations on behalf of the
Community. During the
30th Meeting, the Heads also decided that in light of the Community’s capacity constraints, with respect to the scheduling of future trade negotiations, priority will be
placed on negotiations with Canada. It is anticipated that thereafter, the Region will focus on engaging MERCOSUR – a regional common market encompassing Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

The immediate aim of this engagement will be to conclude functional cooperation arrangements, which could be a precursory step towards negotiating a trade agreement with MERCOSUR. The Heads during the Meeting, also agreed to support bilateral arrangements between Trinidad and Tobago and Brazil, provided that these arrangements were not at variance to Trinidad and Tobago’s Community obligations under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.

The OTN will be located in Barbados. However, it will continue to have a presence in Jamaica, Guyana and Geneva. A presence in Canada established to provide support to CARICOM during the upcoming negotiations with Canada will also be maintained until that exercise is completed. The presence in Brussels and Trinidad and Tobago will be discontinued. However, the Trinidad and Tobago operation established to provide support and advice to the OECS, Haiti and Belize is to be moved to the OECS Secretariat in St. Lucia. An officer had previously been located in the OECS Secretariat but this arrangement was terminated in 2007.

It is anticipated that the new Director General designate, Ambassador Gail Mathurin, whose appointment was confirmed during the 30th Meeting of Conference of Heads, will assume the helm in September this year. She replaces Ambassador Henry Gill who resigned on June 30th 2009. In the interim the officer-in-charge of the department is the Deputy Senior Director, Mr. Carl B. Greenidge.