New head named for Regional Negotiating Machinery

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC - Trinidadian Henry Gill is to replace Ambassador Richard Bernal as Director General for the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM), the body charged with leading the region in sensitive trade talks.

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders agreed to the new appointment during their annual summit in Antigua last week.

The new Director General served as CRNM’s Senior Director for the past seven years with overarching responsibility for the technical work of the organisation and leadership of the technical team.

He played a leading role in crafting the regional negotiating strategy pursued in CARIFORUM’s (CARICOM and Dominican Republic) negotiations for an Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union.

Gill served previously as Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Latin American Economic Integration System (SELA) based in Caracas, Venezuela. He has also worked in a senior capacity at the Institute for International Relations (IIR) at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad and Tobago.

Ambassador Bernal, who resigned from the post earlier this year, officially gave up office on June 30. He will assume the post of Alternate Executive Director for the Caribbean at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Washington, DC.