BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

Trinidadian Henry Gill is to replace Ambassador Richard Bernal as director general of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM), the body charged with leading the region in sensitive trade talks.

The new director general served as CRNM's senior director for the last 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 CARI-FORUM'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 based in Caracas, Venezuela. He has also worked in a senior capacity at the Institute for International Relations at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus in Trinidad and Tobago.