Their names evoke images of distant and exotic lands: Pitcairn, Mayotte, St. Pierre, Miquelon. Closer to home the names are more familiar: Anguilla, Aruba, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Netherlands Antilles, Montserrat, and Turks and Caicos Islands.

They are 20 in all, scattered over the globe from the Caribbean to the South Pacific and from the Arctic to the Antarctic. They are dependencies of Britain, France, Denmark and the Netherlands; now known officially as the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) of the European Union.

Barely known to each other and almost forgotten by the world, they have a few key features in common. They are small --- populations range from around 250,000 to 47. They are for the most part islands or communities of islands. And in an age of decolonisation, they have all chosen to retain some kind of dependent status.

Country - Affiliation - Population

Greenland Danish 56,352

New Caledonia & Dependencies French 204,863

French Polynesia French 253,506

French Southern & Antarctic Territories French N/A

Wallis & Futuna Islands French 15,435

Mayotte French 163,336

St. Pierre & Miquelon French 6,914

Aruba Dutch 70,007

Netherland Antilles Dutch 212,226

Anguilla British 12,132

Cayman Islands British 35,527

Falkland Islands British 2,895

South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands British N/A

Montserrat British 7,574

Pitcairn British 47

St. Helena, Ascension Island & Tristan da Cunha British 7,266

British Antarctic Territory British N/A

British Indian Ocean Territory British N/A

Turks and Caicos Islands British 18,122

British Virgin Islands British 20,812

(Source: The Europa World Factbook 2001)

The leaders of 13 of them gathered for the annual EU-OCTs Forum and Ministerial Conference on the Caribbean island of Bonaire in the Netherlands Antilles last September 16-20. The talk was of cooperation --- with the EU itself, with each other; and, in the case of the Caribbean OCTs, with their other Caribbean neighbours.

The European Commission, which sponsored the meeting, sent a high-level delegation led by EC Development Commissioner Poul Nielson. Specially invited for the dialogue on regional cooperation were the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), CARIFORUM, the Organisation of East Caribbean States (OECS) and the French Caribbean Departments (DOMs).

Background to the Forum was the EU's Association Decision of November 2001 setting the framework of the EU-OCT relationship for the next 10 years. The declared objectives are the prevention and eradication of poverty; sustainable development and the gradual integration of the OCT's into the regional and world economies.

The regional integration objective opens a window of opportunity for cooperation between the Caribbean OCTs and their neighbours. Sustainable development and the environment, tourism, trade, transport and disaster preparedness are key areas of common interest that are among priorities identified by the EU for support. They are the focal areas of functional cooperation for the ACS. This was the thrust of the presentation by this columnist in the dialogue on regional cooperation.

The Forum reviewed the utilization of EU financing instruments available to the OCTs: grants from the European Development Fund (EDF), loans from the European Investment Bank, an Investment Facility and specific EU thematic programmes. It found that the funding sources are far from being fully utilized. Project preparation is complex and demanding. Donor procedures can be cumbersome and bureaucratic. And there has been little contact between the OCTs and their Caribbean neighbours.

An institutional framework providing for mechanisms of cooperation on regional projects is needed.

Professor Norman Girvan is Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States. The views expressed are not necessarily the official views of the ACS. Feedback can be sent to mail@acs-aec.org. Read all of Professor Girvan's columns at http://www.acs-aec.org/column/ .

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