Port-of-Spain, Trinidad:  The 2^nd Regional Bipartite Meeting of the Caribbean Employers’ Confederation (CEC) and the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL) took place in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad from September 26 to 29, 2017. The meeting was sponsored by the European Union (EU) and supported by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The Regional Meeting was an opportunity to assess progress made by the delegations along the path to stronger participation of CARIFORUM Civil Society in the Regional Development and Integration Process. This is the main objective of the EU-funded project known as “Challenges to CARIFORUM Labour, Private Sector and Employers to fulfil their EPA Obligations: Caribbean Employers’ Confederation (CEC) and the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL) Component of the Support to Facilitate Participation of CARIFORUM Civil Society in Regional Development and Integration Process”.

In addressing the meeting during the Opening Ceremony, Ms. Claudia Coenjaerts, Director of the ILO Decent Work Team and Caribbean Office emphasised the important responsibility on the shoulders of both the CEC and the CCL and their membership, “First, more than ever we are aware of the critical need to strengthen our regional identity in the Caribbean so that it can be a steady and legitimate force in the global context”…[+]