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Contact:
Primus Hutchinson
Friday, October 10, 2003 - Director of Consumer Affairs in the Ministry
of Commerce, Investment and Consumer Affairs, Philip McClauren is to chair one
of two workshops during the 17th World Congress for Consumers to be held in
Lisbon, Portugal.
Mr. McClauren is one of two representatives from local consumer protection
agencies who will be leaving the island this weekend, to attend the October 13th
to 17th event hosted by Consumers International, a world renowned organization
representing approximately 260 consumer protection agencies, in over 115
countries. The other representative is President of the National Consumer
Associatio, Andrew Antoine, who will be among approximately 600 delegates
worldwide.
Mc Lauren is expected to chair a workshop on October 14th, which will focus
primarily on the Multi-Lateral Trading System. The objective of the exercise is
to examine some trading arrangements and how they impact on consumers.
According to McClauren, the session to be chaired by him will include five (5)
persons on the panel from different organisations in the four main regions where
Consumer International has a regional office. These regions are Asia/Pacific,
Africa and North America, Latin America and the Caribbean. McClauren added that
the Office for Developed and Transition Economies headquartered in the UK, will
also form part of this panel.
McClauren indicated that St. Lucia’s participation is geared towards continuing
to identify opportunities for institutional strengthening and capacity building.
“So we are going to continue to build on relationships with other consumer
agencies and organizations that in the end will ultimately help us in St. Lucia
and the Caribbean as a whole, to advance consumer interests and the consumer
movement,” McClauren said.
The Consumer Congress - held every three years - will be held under the theme
“The Future of Consumer Rights: Representation, Regulation and Empowerment in a
World Economy”. A special meeting on “Best Practices on Consumer Protection -
Regulatory Bodies”, has been organized for all government enforcement
organizations, and is expected to provide an opportunity for debate and
reflection.
During the event, a new president will be elected to serve the interests of
consumer agencies for the next three years.
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