KINGSTON, Jamaica, Gleaner - HEAD OF Delegation for the European Union to Jamaica Ambassador Paola Amadei has urged Jamaicans to develop the capacity to compete around the world and not to depend on tariff barriers to make domestic industries relevant. "It is not by applying tariffs that you will develop a competitive industry or a competitive agricultural sector. It has been proven that by applying tariff and the higher the tariffs are, the worse it is for the consumers.

ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – Dominica will use a meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Council on Trade and Economic Development (COTED) in Trinidad and Tobago on Friday for support for its renewable energy development programme.

The Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat said the meeting “will discuss and seek agreement on a CARICOM Energy Policy.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Energy in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) comes under focus this week as portfolio Ministers meet in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, for a Special Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED).

Officials in the Energy Sector met in Port-of-Spain on Wednesday ahead of the 41st Special Meeting of COTED on Energy which will be convened on Friday at the Hyatt Regency under the Chairmanship of the Hon. Rayburn Blackmoore, Minister of Public Works, Energy and Ports, Dominica.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Gleaner - A five-member team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is in Antigua and Barbuda to conduct reviews of the island's economic performance under a three-year stand-by arrangement (SBA). The team headed by Geoffrey Bannister has already held meetings with various public and private-sector representatives to discuss economic developments in Antigua. In June 2010, the IMF approved a US$117.8 million loan to support the implementation of Antigua's Fiscal Consolidation Programme.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez's continued silence in the week since his return to Venezuela has only deepened the mystery about his health. While tweets and letters have been issued in Chavez's name, and officials insist they have had long meetings with him, no photos have emerged and even an ally as close as Bolivian President Evo Morales was turned away without a bedside meeting. Some Venezuelans have questioned whether the socialist president is at a military hospital in Caracas at all, whether he even returned from Cuba or whether he is in fact still alive.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va., (Reuters) – President Barack Obama today warned of threats to Navy readiness and a storm broke over the government releasing hundreds of illegal immigrants due to budget pressure as automatic government spending cuts crept closer. In the latest event staged by the White House to warn of the possible damage to public services, Obama spoke at the Newport News Shipbuilding shipyard where scheduled maintenance to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has been delayed due to the budget crisis.

(Trinidad Express) Europe’s largest oil company Royal Dutch Shell once more has a significant stake in Trinidad and Tobago’s energy sector. The company said yesterday it has struck a deal with Spain’s Repsol SA to buy Repsol’s liquefied natural gas assets in Trinidad and Tobago and Peru in a deal worth US$6.2 billion. Shell said it would pay $4.4 billion in cash and assume $1.8 billion in Repsol debt and other obligations.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Stabroek News - Last week the Canadian Foreign Minister, John Baird, made a diplomatic foray into Latin America, in a follow-up to, or probably reassessment of, Canada-Latin American relations since Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited the area in 2007. As part of Latin America, or the Americas as they are sometimes referred to in North America, Baird took in two countries that are part of the Cariforum system, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, in both of which Canada has maintained a substantial interest.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – A pastor with the Seventh Day Adventist Church is claiming that Latin American assassins are operating in Trinidad and Tobago and called for an all out war on crime. “We have Latin American assassins in this country. We have Colombians in this society, hired by the godfathers who have the art of slicing heads and legs, training secondary school students to do the same thing in this society,” Pastor Clive Dottin said at the funeral for police sergeant Hayden Manwaring, who was shot and killed by bandits last week.

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony will address the nation on Wednesday as public workers stayed away from their jobs for a second consecutive day “resting and recuperating.” The Trade Union Federation (TUF) is seeking a 9.5 per cent wage increase for the workers, including teachers, but the government has said it could only afford a four per cent salary hike for the 2010-12 triennium.