PRIME MINISTER P.J. Patterson says the Caribbean and the entire group of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries have made significant progress in the first round of negotiations with the European Union for a successor arrangement to the Lome IV Convention.

These achievements he said, were only possible as a result of the unity, co-operation and solidarity displayed by the 71-member grouping.

Mr. Patterson, as chairman of the CARICOM Prime Ministerial Sub-committee on External Negotiations, is in charge of the regional process of EU and World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations as well as the hemispheric talks for the creation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

In a statement, Mr. Patterson said: "Lome has emerged as the negotiating arena with the most functional potential for the Caribbean and the ACP, it is a practical development-oriented economic trade arrangement."

Among the gains for the ACP in the first round of negotiations which ended in Brussels recently were an end to EU insistence on regional agreement as the only option for a future arrangement and securing a transition or preparatory period of eight rather than five years over which time trade preferences are to be phased out for ACP exports to the EU.

Another gain was the securing of a preliminary period of two-and-a-half years (to September 2002) before formal negotiations would begin on the post-2007 arrangement. A joint ACP/EU Ministerial Monitoring mechanism is also to be established during the eight-year preparatory period to build ACP capacity and protect ACP development interest.

According to Mr. Patterson, "The successful conclusion of this round of negotiations underscored the need in the increasingly globalised world trade environment, for the most vulnerable economies to speak with one voice and to act in unison."

"As we stand on threshold of a new century we can take pride in the fact that our efforts have secured a workable arrangement for the continuation of the Lome co-operation agreement, which has proved to be a source of positive development assistance for the fragile economies of the Caribbean and the ACP over the past quarter of a century."

He said that the spirit of co-operation shown by ACP member states must be preserved to triumph over other major challenges that will come with the 21st century.

Prime Minister Patterson lauded the work of the Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM) headed by CARICOM's Chief Negotiator Sir Shridath Ramphal, its Chief Technical Director Sir Alister McIntyre and the RNM staff. The role of Jamaica's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Foreign trade, Anthony Hylton, as the ACP's lead negotiator for trade, was also commended by the Prime Minister.