SOCIAL SECTOR INVESTMENT PROGRAMME
22
SUSTAINING GROWTH, SECURING PROSPERITY
2.4 REGIONAL DIALOGUE AND
CONFERENCES
1. E
NERGY
• IRENA - International Renewable Energy
Agency
IRENA held a workshop entitled “Accelerating
Renewable Energy Developments within the
Caribbean” on September 17, 2012 in Bermuda
ahead of the Renewable Energy Forum 2012
organised by the Caribbean Electric Utility
Services Corporation (CARILEC). More than
50 participants, including representatives from
Caribbean Utility companies, technical experts
and financing institutions, gathered to discuss
the specific challenges and opportunities for
Caribbean islands, including regional, technical
and financial issues to successfully position
renewable energy in the region.
16
The workshop, organised in collaboration
with CARILEC as part of IRENA’s Renewable
Energy Islands Initiative (iREii), highlighted the
current status and lessons learned by different
Caribbean utilities with renewable projects, such
as geothermal, hydropower and wind energy.
It provided an opportunity to discuss how the
Agency can best contribute to accelerating
renewable energy efforts in the region.
2. I
NNOVATION
• EUCARINET - European Union-Caribbean
Research and Innovation Network
The First Bi-Regional Dialogue (Caribbean–
EU) Workshop under the EUCARINET Project
was held on April 24-26, 2013 at the CARICOM
Secretariat Headquarters in Georgetown,
Guyana. The main goal of the EUCARINET
Project is to strengthen bi-regional sustainable
16 The stakeholders in this Project are EU Member and
Associated States and the Caribbean Region, the Caribbean
ACP countries, the overseas departments, and the Overseas
Countries and Territories (OCTs)
policy dialogue on Science and Technology
17
. It
is expected to establish sustainable bi-regional,
multi-stakeholders policy dialogue on Science
and Technology (S&T) at the policy, programme
and institutional levels.
The Bi-Regional dialogue focused on addressing
long-term strategies to strengthen existing
cooperation in Science Technology and
Innovation (STI) between Europe and the
Caribbean, starting with the knowledge base of
theEUCARINETProject.TheMeetingconsidered
the recommendations of the Strategy Paper on
STI in the Caribbean and specifically sought to
identify how best to integrate outputs of the
EUCARINET Project into policy and strategic
frameworks for STI, in order to establish
sustainable benefits over the long run for the
development of STI in the Caribbean.
18
3. H
UMAN
R
IGHTS
• First Regional Forum on Business and
Human Rights for LAC
The United Nations Working Group on Business
and Human Rights, the United Nations
Development Programme’s (UNDP) Regional
Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean,
and the Government of Colombia co-hosted the
first Regional Forum on business and human
rights for Latin America and the Caribbean,
which was held on August 28-30, 2013 in
Medellín, Colombia. The forum provided a multi-
stakeholder regional platform for constructive
dialogue on the implementation of the
UN
Guiding Principles on Business and Human
Rights
.
19
Participants included representatives
from global, regional and domestic businesses,
industry
associations,
governments,
17
iew=article&id=178&catid=1&Itemid=24
18 Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
/
GuidingPrinciplesBusinessHR_EN.pdf
19 World Economic Situation and Prospects 2013. Global
Outlook, December 2012
CHAPTER 2: THE CARIBBEAN SOCIAL SITUATION
