ST GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – Grenadians were voting Tuesday to elect a new government after a six week campaign in which both the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the main opposition New National party (NNP) told voters they were best suited to deal with the socio-economic problems of the Spice Isle.
Long lines formed outside some of the 239 polling stations scattered across the island that opened at 6.00 am (local time) and will close 11 hours later. There are 45 candidates contesting the elections.
GEORGETOWN—The 15-nation Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will be funding all future negotiations itself, according to Guyana’s Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett. She recently informed the 65-seat National Assembly, current negotiations between CARICOM and Canada for a Trade and Development Agreement are being funded by the region.
Rodrigues-Birkett’s statement came in the form of a written response to a series of questions by opposition front-bencher Carl Greenidge, who was previously a senior negotiator with Caricom’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN).
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - With at least one third of the Caribbean Community’s 15 Heads of Government absent from the current two-day Inter-Sessional Meeting in Haiti, it would be a welcome surprise if any new initiative of significance on the way forward for the regional economic integration movement is included in the communiqué to be released this evening.
Prior to yesterday’s start of this first Heads of Government meeting in Haiti, with President Michel Martelly presiding, it was disclosed by the CARICOM Secretariat that crime and security would top the agenda.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer has joined other Caricom leaders at the 24th Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, February 18-19.
During the deliberations, Prime Minister Spencer will take the opportunity to brief his colleagues over the recent authorisation from the World Trade Organisation Dispute Settlement Body.
PORT-AU-PRINCE -- The arms control debate arrived in Haiti on Monday as members of a regional trade bloc sought the United States’ help in ensuring that an international treaty aimed at regulating the $70 billion global arms trade includes a provision for small arms.
The issue was among several vexing crime and security concerns raised during a closed-door discussion with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who attended a summit of the 15-member Caribbean Community, known as Caricom, before flying to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands Monday afternoon.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Trinidad and Tobago loses more than $200 million in tourism revenue a year because of crime, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said yesterday.
Persad-Bissessar made the statement as she opened discussions at Caricom's Inter-Sessional meeting on strengthening the regional crime and security agenda and architecture in Haiti.
Persad-Bissessar is responsible for Crime and Security in the Caricom Quasi Cabinet.
PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar Monday warned regional leaders that they need to adopt “urgent and drastic action” to deal with the scourge of transnational crime in the Caribbean.
Addressing the leaders at the 24th intersessional summit here, Persad Bissessar, who has lead responsibility for security within the quasi Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Cabinet, said “I fear we have found ourselves in a very serious situation and we are running out of time as the scourge of transnational crime is slowly taking over the region.
PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, CMC – Caribbean Community (CARICCOM) leaders began a historic summit here on Monday with CARICOM Secretary General Irwin LaRocque indicating there is a need to stave off existing challenges to the regional integration movement that is observing its 40th anniversary. LaRocque told regional leaders that there can be no greater indicator, “symbolic and substantive, that Haiti has taken its rightful place within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) by hosting the summit.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) “Haiti should be seen and treated as an opportunity. Despite its difficulties, it represents a good opportunity for the Region, an opportunity for each CARICOM country,” His Excellency Michel Martelly, President of Haiti and Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) told the Region on Monday.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) His Excellency Michel Martelly, President of Haiti and Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has placed the lack of a dedicated transport system at the heart of the problems related to the free movement of persons and goods.