GEORGETOWN, Guyana – A US$770,000 grant support package will become available to Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states from the Republic of Kazakhstan to strengthen capacity in the areas of climate change and sustainable development.

CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque and Ambassador of Kazakhstan to CARICOM Konstantin Zhigalov signed the agreement of financial support on the side-lines of the Fourth High-Level Donor Forum in Guyana.

The agreement formalizes arrangements through the CARICOM Secretariat for CARICOM member states to benefit from the package.

At the regional level, it is intended to support CARICOM as it seeks to position itself on issues related to climate change and sustainable development on the international stage.

At the level of member states, the financial support will strengthen the capacities of ministries of foreign affairs to develop national positions on those issues.

Member states will also benefit from improved capacity to engage in regional and international discussions related to the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), linking the global development discourse with regional integration efforts.

LaRocque, in expressing appreciation, told the Kazakhstan ambassador the assistance was timely as capacity-building was often a challenge in achieving desired objectives.

The Kazakhstan ambassador said the agreement represented another “good start” in strengthening the relatively new partnership with CARICOM.