| Date: Thu 17-Nov-1994 Paper Page: 22 Publication: Daily Nation Author: Terry Ally PRESIDENT Cheddi Jagan of Guyana is proposing the setting up of a development fund for the Americas similar to the European Development Fund (EDF). "The lesser-developed countries. . . are to be facilitated by this fund so they can bring up the level of income per head to at least three quarters of the average amount for the region," he told reporters in Barbados during a stop-over on his way to the CARICOM summit in Jamaica starting today (Thursday). In the Western Hemisphere, per capita income ranges from US$25 000 in North America to $300 in South America, Jagan said, giving urgency to the need for an EDF-type mechanism to improve the quality of life in the hemisphere. The EDF provides concessionary funding to Europe's former colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. The Fund for the Americas is among a set of "concrete" proposals Jagan is presenting to his CARICOM colleagues for placing on on the agenda for next month's Summit of the Americas, in Miami. Jagan, who lamented the method used by the Americans in setting the Americas Summit agenda, said that they have received the assurance from President Bill Clinton that even though the October 21 deadline is gone, CARICOM will still have the opportunity to influence the Summit agenda. |