Brussels, 12 April 2018 /ACP: The ACP Secretariat and the ACP Group had the pleasure to welcome back to Brussels, the new Ambassador of Barbados, Her Excellency Ms. Joy-Ann Skinner. Ambassador Skinner served at her Embassy in Brussels from 2000 to 2005 as First Secretary. In this capacity, she chaired the ACP States Rum Working Party, and successfully defended Caribbean rum interests at the World Customs Organisation.
As the Secretary to the Caribbean-European Union Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Brussels, she worked for three years to promote the export of goods and services from the Caribbean to the European Union.
After completing her assignment in Brussels, she returned Barbados and successively held various positions, such as Senior Foreign Service Officer in the Hemispheric Relations Unit and Head of the Caribbean/CARICOM Relations and Maritime Boundaries Delimitations Unit.
More specifically, she was the Coordinator of Barbados’ Extended Continental Shelf Negotiating Team in its negotiations with the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, and subsequently Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of Barbados, in Cuba.
Ambassador Skinner also served for a few years as Senior Trade Executive in the West Indies Rum and Spirits Producers’ Association (WIRSPA), developing and promoting Caribbean rum on the international market. She also represented the Association’s trade interests in the negotiations to conclude the CARIFORUM¬EU Economic Partnership Agreement.
(Photo: from left to right: H.E Ms Joy-Ann Skinner Ambassador of Barbados andH.E Mrs. Sheila Sealy Monteith, Chair of the ACP Committee of Ambassadors and Ambassador of Jamaica)
ACP Press