Guyana is among eight CARICOM member states who will be the first beneficiaries of grants, interest subsidies and concessionary loans through the Barbados-based CARICOM Development Fund (CDF) which has started a series of consultative missions designed to make the organisation responsive to these states.

According to a CARICOM Secretariat press release, the other member states are Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines  and Belize.

Meanwhile, CDF Chief Executive Officer Lorne McDonnough led a three-person delegation to St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Tuesday to inform of the CDFs role, mandate and progress.

Ambassador Mcdonnough and his team will continue to meet Heads of Government, government officials, private sector and non-government stakeholders in the member states.

The missions along with the results of a subsequent European funded Needs Assessment Study will guide the CDF’s areas of focus and interventions during its first funding cycle.

This round of missions is expected to conclude with a visit to Belize commencing June 26 and similar consultations will be mounted in the remaining member states at a later date.

The CARICOM Develo- pment Fund was established under Article 158 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguar- amas to address the disadvantages arising from the implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) process.