International Service
Patterson is a member of the Club de Madrid, a group that consists of more than 80 former Presidents and Prime Ministers of democratic countries, which works to strengthen democracy and democratic leadership worldwide.
Patterson has contributed to numerous Conventions and Statements in the international arena including the Valletta Statement on Multilateral Trade and the Gozo Statement on Vulnerable Small States. These have helped to shape north-south relationship and influence the negotiating position of developing countries.
He is a member of the Global Leadership Foundation, an NGO Composed of a number of former statesmen, ex-presidents and Prime Ministers founded in 2004 by former State President of South Africa and Nobel Prize laureate F. W. de Klerk.
He played a seminal role in the process that marked the transition from the first steps in integration of the Caribbean region to the founding of CARIFTA and its evolution into CARICOM. He drew upon his expertise in law and trade, to steer the regional body toward the development of a Caribbean jurisprudence through the Caribbean Court of Justice, and a borderless regional economy through the CARICOM Single Market, which came to fruition in 2005 and 2006 respectively.
During his tenure as Jamaica’s Foreign Minister he served as President of the ACP/EU Ministerial Council and led negotiations for the ACP group of countries with the European Community. As Chairman of the ACP/EEC Ministerial Conference, he played a pivotal role in forging an agreement on the basic framework for the original Lomé Convention, which influenced the outcome of subsequent negotiations that led to the Convention signed in 1975. He has served as President and Spokesman of the ACP Ministerial Council on a number of occasions.
A passionate opponent of apartheid, he was an ardent proponent of South Africa's liberation movement.
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