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.
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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.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez returned home to Venezuela early Monday after more than two months of medical treatment in Cuba following cancer surgery. Chavez's return was announced in a series of message on his Twitter account, saying "we will continue our treatment here." "We've arrived once again in our Venezuelan homeland. Thank you, my God!!" the first of the three messages said.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Despite challenges in the past, the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus has excelled in a half century. The 50th Anniversary Interfaith Thanksgiving service was one of celebration as the institution was lauded for its achievements. Bishop of Barbados and Archbishop of the West Indies, The Most Rev. Dr. The Hon.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – As the nation awaits Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer’s promised response to the senators who stood up against his government’s Citizenship by Investment (CIP) Act, the senators have been commended for voting with their conscience. Dwyer Astaphan, former St Kitts & Nevis National Security and Tourism Minister, was a guest on OBSERVER Radio’s Big Issues on Sunday. “Spencer ought to be commended for putting persons in there who are willing and able to stand and say what they feel and to speak from a position of conscience,” Astaphan said.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - THE Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) is calling on the Government to immediately review and make changes to aspects of its new tax regime, which it said could do more harm than good to the economy. "The PSOJ is urging the Government to immediately review and change its tax treatment of certain raw material inputs under the new waiver caps imposed by the proposed IMF agreement," said the group in a release on the weekend.