UNITED NATIONS, CMC – Three Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries are in arrears with payments to the United Nations and have “lost” their vote in the world body. According to a January 15th letter sent by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the President of the General Assembly, Dominica along with Grenada and St Lucia are among 18 countries in arrears. Dominica owes US$7,231, while St. Lucia is in arrears to the tune of US$35,727 and Grenada US$40,100.
WASHINGTON, CMC - The Organization of American States (OAS) says the electoral victories of Barbados Prime Minister Freundel Stuart and his counterpart in Grenada, Dr. Keith Mitchell, are as a result of the confidence the electorate in both countries have showed in their ability to lead their respective countries. Mitchell lead his New National Party (NNP) to a clean sweep of all 15 seats in the Fenruary 19 general elections in Grenada, while Stuart won a slender two-seat majority in the Barbados polls on February 21.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Guyana will host the Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA) this year after a 10-year hiatus, senior programme coordinator of the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA) Jose Fonseca announced Monday. The CWA, usually held in October, provides opportunities to profile aspects of agriculture in the Caribbean and affords regional agriculture ministers an occasion to seek to give meaning to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Agricultural Policy.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Advocate - Are we ready and open for business? Recently, Dr. Patrick Antoine, chief economic advisor to the new Grenada Government declared this was now so in his country. You would be aware that Grenadians also had the opportunity last week to speak with the vote. A mere two days before Barbadians headed to the polls, their regional neighbours elected Keith Mitchell to the helm of government. Against the backdrop of acute unemployment, low investment and a reported debt of EC$2.01 billion, Dr.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Advocate - The way to outrun the competition in the international market is to improve productivity. This was the advice given by Dr. Delisle Worrell, Governor of Central Bank of Barbados (CBB).
NASSAU, Bahamas, CMC - Prime Minister Perry G. Christie has outlined measures which he said is aimed at allowing his administration to lower debt and increase the prospects for economic growth in The Bahamas. In a statement outlining the 2012-13 mid-year budget, Christie told legislators that in order to achieve these initiatives, recurrent revenue will be significantly and structurally enhanced through a wide range of measures.
NASSAU, Bahamas, CMC - Prime Minister Perry G. Christie has outlined measures which he said is aimed at allowing his administration to lower debt and increase the prospects for economic growth in The Bahamas. In a statement outlining the 2012-13 mid-year budget, Christie told legislators that in order to achieve these initiatives, recurrent revenue will be significantly and structurally enhanced through a wide range of measures.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Dr. the Honourable Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, will lead his delegation to a Special Meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) on Energy which will be held in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on 1 March.
Mr. Charles Kirnon, Deputy Premier of Montserrat is also to attend the special one-day Meeting.
HAVANA, Cuba, CMC – Russia’s Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov says his country will forgive part of Cuba’s US$25 billion Soviet-era debt and restructure the rest as part of agreements that include Havana getting Russian jetliners worth US$650 million. On an official visit here, Manturov told reporters that Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and Ricardo Cabrisas, vice president of the Council of Ministers, had initialed the debt agreement, adding that the details would be worked out by the end of the year.
WASHINGTON, CMC – The United States has denied reports that it plans to remove Cuba from a list of countries that support terrorism. “I saw that report. Let me say firmly here it is incorrect,” US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters here. “This department has no current plans to remove Cuba from the state sponsor of terrorism list. “We review this every year, and at the current moment when the last review was done in 2012, we didn’t see cause to remove them,” she added.