European Union

The European Commission (EC) is the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union. Collectively the twenty seven member states that currently compromise the EU, make it one of the world's largest economic and political entities.

In 2001, the European Union (EU) provided a 6 million (euro) grant towards the funding of the five-year Poverty Reduction Programme (PRP). On November 20, 2000 and December 11, 2000, the European Commission (EC) and the Government of Jamaica (GoJ), respectively signed Financing Agreement No. 6349/JM to the tune of 7 million euro. The JSIF contributed the remaining     1 million euro ‘in kind’. The PRP had an initial Closing Date of December 31, 2005 but was extended to June 30, 2006.

As a result of the relative successes of this sub-project a new agreement was drafted known as the Second Poverty Reduction Programme (PRP II). On April 10, 2007 and June 18, 2007, the European Commission (EC) and the GoJ, respectively, signed the 10 million euro Financing Agreement No. 964/JM for a grant, of which the EC undertook to provide 8.5 million euro and the GoJ 1.5 million euro as counterpart funding. The Financing Agreement entered into force June 18, 2007 and came to an end December 31, 2013.

The European Union (EU) Banana Support Programme Rural Diversification Programme provided a 1,156,000 euro grant to fund the Infrastructure Improvement Project for Traditional Banana Growing Communities. Counterpart funding of 289,000 euro was provided by the Government of Jamaica (GoJ), making a total project cost of 1,445,000 euro. The Project was implemented over a two-year period which began on December 24, 2008 and slated for completion December 23, 2010. During this period, JSIF worked closely with stakeholders such as community groups, government agencies and non governmental organizations to ensure compliance with established JSIF standards.