TODAY

 
 


1. CARICOM, Mexico to cement ties against common challenges

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BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (GINA) -- The second CARICOM/Mexico summit opened on Monday in Bridgetown, Barbados with acknowledgement of the need for a strengthened alliance against the common challenges of citizen security, transnational crime and sustainable human development.Trade, investment, tourism and cooperation are expected to feature prominently over the two-day event but CARICOM leaders are also looking forward to a meaningful outcome on natural disaster risk reduction and the environment. Under two existing programmes; the Meso-American Territorial Information System and the Meso-American Environmental Sustainability Strategy; experiences are to be shared on regional co-ordination system for natural disaster risk reduction and projects in the areas of bio-diversity and forestry, climate change, green growth and sustainable competitiveness. Guyana’s President Donald Ramotar joined his other colleague Heads of State in CARICOM at the summit, looking forward most of all to an engagement with Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon on strengthening responses to challenges in the social, economic and political realm. While accrediting the new Mexican Ambassador to Guyana Francisco Olguin on May 10, Ramotar conveyed the high value which the Guyana government believes the forum can engender with the challenges facing today’s world.     




2. Bahamas budget deficit estimated at $500million  

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NASSAU, Bahamas -- Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Chairman Bradley Roberts revealed on Monday that the incoming Christie administration in The Bahamas has met a budget deficit of around $500 million, and said he would be ‘shocked’ if criminal charges are not brought after an investigation into the management of public funds by the previous government. Asked about this figure on Monday, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Perry Christie told The Nassau Guardian he was not sure of the figure that his team had come up with as he was busy preparing the Speech from the Throne. He suggested that The Guardian speak to Minister of State for Finance Michael Halkitis. However, Deputy Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis confirmed the figure when he spoke to The Nassau Guardian on Monday. Davis blamed the Free National Movement (FNM) government’s “mismanagement” and “abuse” of the public purse. Davis, who is the minister of works and urban development, also said the PLP administration has launched an investigation into the former government’s management of public funds and added that criminal charges may follow.“Now that we’re in, and looking at what the true facts are, we are definitely approaching the $500 million deficit range,” he said after a swearing in ceremony for 10 senators. “We are doing our investigations with a view to see if we ought to prosecute someone for the abuse that has taken place with the public purse.”   

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3. Cayman Islands premier calls for fairer taxes on flights to Caribbean                                                                                         Courtesy of-www.caribbeannewsnow.com


Cayman Islands Premier McKeeva Bush has urged the UK government to change the way it administers the controversial Air Passenger Duty (APD). In a letter sent on Thursday, Bush encouraged British Chancellor George Osborne to amend the way the tax is imposed, describing it as “unfair”. The premier said tourism in the Cayman Islands has been hit by increases in the tax.He pointed out that there was a lower APD imposed on people flying to the West Coast of America than to the majority of the Caribbean.Bush wrote: “In the Caribbean there are no less than sixteen Commonwealth and Overseas Territories and I would suggest that our ‘special relationship’ with the United Kingdom requires even more favourable treatment than the United states of America”The letter to the Chancellor urged the “discrimination” to end. He also urged Osborne to implement a two-band system rather than the current four bands.

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4.Restructured sugar cane industry could benefit rum production in Barbados                                                                                     Courtesy of-www.caribbeannewsnow.com

A restructured sugar cane industry holds great potential for the development of the Barbados rum sector. This is the view of Minister of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Water Resource Management, Dr David Estwick, who pointed out that the restructuring process could lead to improved sugar cane yields and the production of grade "A" molasses, which in turn, would have significant benefits for the growth of the Barbadian rum industry.Estwick was speaking during the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation's (BIDC) Rum Expansion Programme groundbreaking session. He was presenting on the topic Marrying the Ministries of Agriculture and Industry to the Benefit of Barbados' Rum Industry. The focus of the session was to devise a strategy for securing a Geographic Indication or GI for Barbados' rum.                                                                 Back to top




4. CARICOM woos Japanese Investors                                          Courtesy of-www.caribbeannewsnow.com


Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states earlier this week showcased to Japanese businessmen the opportunities available in the region, particularly in the energy, natural resources and information and communication technology (ICT) sectors. The CARICOM-Japan Business Seminar was convened in Trinidad and Tobago on 22 November, in Port-of Spain and brought together government and private sector representatives from CARICOM member states, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and a Japanese business delegation that comprised representatives of some of the biggest Japanese enterprises such as Fujitsu, Hitachi and Marubeni. Several bilateral meetings between the representatives of both sides were held on the margins of the seminar. In addition to providing an overview of the economic situation and prospects the region held, the CARICOM delegations promoted the investment opportunities and highlighted the incentives and enabling attributes that their respective countries provide to attract investors. 

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5. Nevis election petition trial adjourned until January                 Courtesy of-www.caribbeannewsnow.com


High Court judge, Justice Mario Michel, announced in court on Tuesday that January 16, 2012, has been identified as the date for the commencement of the trial of the election petition by the agreement of all parties in the matter. The NRP Administration maintains that deputy premier Hensley Daniel was duly re-elected on July 11, defeating former Senator of the Nevis Island Assembly, Mark Brantley.The announcement came two days into the originally planned trial schedule, which had to be shelved due to the untimely illness of Madam Justice Indra Hariprashad-Charles. To avoid jeopardizing evidence of a number of witnesses for the petitioner that had traveled to Nevis for the trial, lawyers for mier Daniel and the other respondents agreed to allow the admission of “amplified” affidavits by those witnesses, thus eliminating the need for the presence of a judge for the admission of those affidavits.

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6. India donates US$100,000 in relief aid to St Vincent        Courtesy of-www.caribbeannewsnow.com


As part of the ongoing efforts to recover from the double-barreled assaults of October 2010’s Hurricane Tomas and the April 2011 flash floods and landslides, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has received US$100,000 (EC$270,000) in assistance from the government of India.India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, in a letter to Ambassador Camillo Gonsalves, stated, “In keeping with the close and warm relations between our two countries, the government of India has decided to make a cash donation of US$100,000 to the government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as humanitarian assistance.”India joins Australia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Georgia, Pakistan, Qatar, Taiwan and the United States of America as countries that have made specific donations to SVG in the wake of Hurricane Tomas and/or the April flash floods. These countries have delivered most of the approximately EC$9 million pledged in humanitarian assistance to the government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and various civil society organisations.

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7. Cuba lifts some restrictions on internal Migration                 Courtesy of-www.caribbeannewsnow.com


The Cuban government has partially lifted restrictions that for years limited internal migration, according to an official decree published at the Official Gazette on Tuesday. The decree modifies a previous regulation issued in 1997 that drastically limited permanent migration to Havana of Cubans residing in other provinces, in an effort to reduce overpopulation and social indiscipline in the city capital. The previous measure forced Cubans hoping to reside permanently in Havana to apply for special permits. Those who did not abide by the rules were subject to fines or to be returned to their places of origin.“Despite the fact that the causes and conditions that motivated the adoption of the 1997 decree still prevail…, it is advisable to exempt from the proceedings established in that document certain cases of persons from other provinces, who request their permanent residence in Havana,” according to the new decree.      

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8.More former Turks and Caicos ministers arrested                                                                                                 Courtesy of-www.caribbeannewnow.com


The special investigation and prosecution team (SIPT) in the Turks and Caicos Islands has confirmed that four people were arrested this week in connection with the ongoing investigations into allegations of widespread government corruption.According to the SIPT, those arrested and later bailed were a 48-year-old woman on Monday, and three men aged 48, 50 and 53 years respectively, on Tuesday.Although the individuals arrested were not named by the SIPT, according to media reports three of the four were former ministers in the previous Progressive National Party (PNP) government: Jeffrey Hall, Lillian Boyce and Samuel Been (Boyce’s former husband).The fourth person arrested is reported to be Melbourne Wilson, Jeffrey Hall’s attorney.This being the case, the only remaining ministers of the Michael Misick administration not currently set for court appearances are McAllister ‘Piper’ Hanchell and Misick himself, who is reported to have taken refuge in the Dominican Republic.Former deputy premier and former finance minister Floyd Hall was arrested earlier this month.

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9. St Kitts-Nevis Development Bank seeks strategic alliances to promote businesses                                                                                                   Courtesy of-www.caribbeannewsnow.com


 

The Development Bank of St Kitts and Nevis has been working to forge strategic alliances with various partners in the region as it strives to deliver technical assistance and support to its current and prospective clients, says its general manager, Lenworth Harris. Addressing the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop held at the University of the West Indies Open Campus at the Gardens in Basseterre, on Wednesday, Harris thanked the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) through its country representative Augustine Merchant for collaborating with the Bank. The workshop, ‘The Application and Use of a Cost of Production/Investment Model for Crops and Livestock’, which is organised by the Business Support Unit of the Development Bank, and aims at enhancing the competitiveness of the modernisation of the agricultural sector, is being facilitated by Edric Harry, IICA policy analysis and policy specialist of Trinidad and Tobago.

 

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10. Wireless provider wins award for scaling mobile money in Haiti                                                                                                  Courtesy of-www.caribbeannewsnow.com


On the eve of celebrating its 12th anniversary in Haiti, Trilogy International Partners' Haitian subsidiary, Voila, was recognized on Tuesday for its leadership role in launching mobile money services throughout Haiti, receiving the majority share – 89% -- of the first 'Scaling Award' from the Haiti Mobile Money Initiative (HMMI), a partnership between The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID, administered by The Haiti Integrated Finance for Value Chains and Enterprise (HIFIVE). At a ceremony in Port au Prince, Voila and its banking partner, Unibank, were presented with a check for $889,250, following HIFIVE's verification of transaction reports submitted earlier this year. Those reports showed that as of May 1, 2011, Haitians had conducted 100,000 qualifying financial transactions -- sending, receiving, or storing money – on their mobile phones. Some 89 percent of those transactions were performed by customers of Voila's mobile money service, T-Cash.

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