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Cariforum-eu economic partnership agreement
When
2021
2021
Who
European union, cariforum secretariat, 16 cariforum member states, 27 eu member states
European union, cariforum secretariat, 16 cariforum member states, 27 eu member states
Website of the policy/measure
Description of the policy/measure
The cariforum-eu epa (economic partnership agreement) was concluded in 2008 between the cariforum member states (the 15 caribbean community states and the dominican republic), and the eu and its member states. article 73 of the epa itself, entitled 鈥渕aintenance of standards鈥, states: 鈥渢he ec party and the signatory cariforum states shall ensure that foreign direct investment is not encouraged by鈥elaxing core labour standards or laws aimed at protecting and promoting cultural diversity鈥. protocol iii on cultural cooperation states that 鈥渢he definitions and concepts used in this protocol are those of the unesco convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions adopted in paris on 20 october 2005鈥. the protocol includes a number of horizontal provisions relevant to the convention including on: - cultural exchanges and dialogue (article 2) - artists and other cultural professionals (article 3) - technical assistance (article 4) - audio-visual, including cinematographic, cooperation (article 5) - performing arts (article 7) - publications (article 8) and
2005 Convention Monitoring Framework Goal(s)
Area(s) of Monitoring
Transversal Priority(ies)
Results achieved
As described by the convention secretariat in its document dce/21/8.cp/11 for the 8th conference of parties, a sub-regional workshop entitled 鈥渁dvancing preferential treatment for culture鈥 was held in barbados on 6 and 7 november 2019 for the caribbean region, in partnership with the cariforum secretariat. this was held in conjunction with the public launch of a study titled culture in the cariforum-european union economic partnership agreement: rebalancing trade flows between europe and the caribbean? the two-day workshop, attended by the european union delegation to barbados, brought together more than 30 officials from intergovernmental and governmental agencies and cultural and trade professionals from barbados, the dominican republic, jamaica, saint lucia and trinidad and tobago. the workshop prepared an outcome document to inform future discussions on policies and measures required to better implement the protocol on cultural cooperation, especially with regard to audio-visual co-productions and cultural exchanges, and the provisions of the epa in relation to market access for entertainment services. two large eu-funded programmes in the sub-region, 鈥渢ranscultura: integrating cuba, the caribbean and the european union through culture and creativity鈥 and 鈥渃reative caribbean: an ecosystem of 鈥榩lay鈥 for growth and development鈥, will build on existing dynamics and aim to strengthen the capacity of caribbean countries to make the most of the protocol on cultural cooperation.
Evaluation of the policy/measure
An ex-post evaluation of the cariforum-eu epa was conducted for the european commission by ecorys. their revised interim report was published in february 2020 and takes account of the unesco study. it is available online here: https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2020/february/tradoc_158657.pdf