BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Concerns are being raised in Guyana about the claims that five Guyanese women were victims of human trafficking here.
According to Press reports, relatives of two of the women questioned what was said to be their version of the goings-on in Barbados.
However, police here and in the South American country said yesterday that they would be intensifying their investigations and would not be swayed by media reports.
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BELMOPAN, Belize, CMC – Australia will use its expertise in guiding the Caribbean adapt to climate change and manage its coral reefs.
Coral reefs provide benefits to the Caribbean valued at over four billion annually. The reefs of the Caribbean are of great importance in providing shoreline protection, habitat for healthy fisheries and an essential attraction for the tourism sector, according to the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC).
BARCELONA, Spain, CMC - Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries Monday appealed for continued international financial assistance to deal with the HIV-AIDS epidemic.
In an addressing commemorating the 10th anniversary of the XIV AIDS Conference here, St. Kitts-Nevis Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas, who has responsibility for health issues within the 15-member CARICOM grouping, said a decade after signing an accord with six pharmaceutical companies in Barcelona, “we can truly and optimistically pronounce the aspirational goal to achieve an AIDS-free generation”.
The Bahamas continues to attract the most American luxury travelers, according to a new study released by Resonance Consultancy in collaboration with the Luxury Institute. The report also shows that the island destination more affluent Americans want to visit than any other is the Turks and Caicos.
The Resonance Report on Affluent Travel and Leisure surveyed more than 1,200 affluent U.S. households with incomes of $150k+ to understand their plans for travel, recreation and the purchase of vacation homes in the next 12-24 months.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - Jamaica has secured 1.6 million air seats into the island this summer, with the bulk coming from the United States — the island's major market — even as the country continues to woo visitors from the non-traditional areas of Eastern Europe and Latin America.
This is welcome news for the many tourism interests now gathered in Montego Bay for the 21st staging of the island's premiere trade show, Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX), at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.
WASHINGTON, CMC - A new report released here says remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) showed a slight increase in 2012 compared to the previous year.
The report, titled “Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean in 2012_ Differing Behavior among Sub-regions,” was released by the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), a member of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). It said the region received a total of US$61.3 billion in remittances last year.
This amount represents a year-on-year increase of US$300 million, or 0.6 per cent increase from 2011.
BELMOPAN, Belize, CMC – Prime Minister Dean Barrow says there will be no referendum in Belize and Guatemala on October 6 as the two countries seek to end a long standing border dispute between them.
Barrow told reporters that confirmation that the referendum would not be held on October 6 as planned came during a meeting in Haiti between Foreign Affairs Minister Sedi Elrington and his Guatemalan counterpart, Fernando Carrera. Both men were attending the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) summit in Port au Prince over the last weekend.
KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – Caribbean aviation and transport ministers meet here on Tuesday to discuss a wide range of outstanding matters including the possibility of establishing a single regional airline, Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonslaves has said.
Gonsalves, speaking at a news conference, said that while his administration has no objection to the formation of a single airline to serve the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) region, such initiatives in the past have not borne fruit.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Caribbean nations are making another go at getting Britain to reform its burdensome Air Passenger Duty (APD).
“It is the moral and fundamental thing to do,” Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy told a meeting in London to reconstitute the APD Committee comprising among others, diplomats of Caribbean nations.
The meeting was held at the offices of the Barbados High Commission. Present were High Commissioners from Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Grenada, Dominica and Cuba and representatives from Belize, Trinidad and Tobago and the Dominican Republic.
It is to be hoped that the visit last week to Canada of Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, who in July will become the chair of Caricom, an association of 15 Caribbean nation-states, will help move forward Canada’s free-trade negotiations with Caricom. Canada’s merchandise trade with the Caricom countries is not huge, but the connections in banking, energy, immigration and culture are strong.