News

KINGSTOWN—The shareholder governments of regional airline, LIAT, will meet in Barbados today, but a planned meeting in Bridgetown with T&T’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar will not materialise, Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves has said. He told a news conference his T&T counterpart was unable to attend the meeting because Parliament would be meeting on the same day. Gonsalves, who serves as chairman of the shareholders, said the meeting with Persad-Bissessar would have dealt with ongoing concerns with the T&T-owned Caribbean Airlines (CAL).

GEORGETOWN, Guyana - Brazil’s ambassador to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Roberto Azevêdo, is to be approved by acclamation, as the Geneva-based organisation’s new director-general, at next Tuesday’s meeting of its general council. Dr Azevêdo is only the WTO’s second leader from the developing world in its 18 years of existence.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - There is an obvious irony in the hemispheric choice of Trinidad and Tobago as the venue for the eighth Americas Competitiveness Forum in October 2014. The most recent World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report moved T&T from 86 out of 133 countries in 2010, to 81 out of 142 countries in 2012. On the Global Innovation Index, Trinidad and Tobago now ranks 81 out of 125 countries in 2012, a steep drop from the 2010 baseline ranking of 55.

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Keeping a keen eye south of the border, the Obama administration is intensifying its engagement with Latin America, hosting leaders from a pair of presidents at the White House and sending Vice President Joe Biden to visit two others. Peru's President Ollanta Humala and Chile's President Sebastian Pinera will travel to Washington in June to meet with President Barack Obama, the White House said Wednesday. And next week, Biden will make stops in Brazil and Colombia, plus the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago.:

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his Argentine counterpart and ally, Cristina Fernandez, announced new energy and food agreements yesterday, then Maduro cheered supporters of Argentina's president with a rousing speech at a football-stadium rally. Maduro said their two countries are more closely aligned than ever despite the deaths of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and of Nestor Kirchner, Fernandez's husband who preceded her in the presidency.

GENEVA (Trinidad Guardian) —The incoming head of the World Trade Organisation says his first priority will be to try to rescue its credibility as a forum for trade negotiations. Brazilian Ambassador Roberto Azevedo told a packed room of reporters at Brazils WTO mission Wednesday that “the negotiating pillar of the WTO is clearly stuck.” At the WTO, diplomats and officials congratulated Azevedo on his selection as WTO director general for the next four years. Azevedo also said it was important to close “the gap” between the WTOs rules and how things really are between trading nations.

BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS - Tourism authorities are concerned about complaints about rude and arrogant personnel at the Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA). Commenting on a story appearing on the Back Page of yesterday’s MIDWEEK NATION about ratings Barbados was receiving from some of the visitors passing through the airport, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and International Transport Irene Sandiford-Garner said the reports were of concern to tourism authorities who had discussed the matter and determined it was an area that “must be tackled at all levels”.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Former Member of Parliament for Chaguanas West Jack Warner would face expulsion from the United Na­tional Congress (UNC) if he contests the by-election as an independent candidate. Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday said the party’s constitution does have certain sanctions and provisions that prevent a member from contesting a seat as an independent candidate. “The constitution of the party provides for what will happen if a person should go up on any other ticket except that of the party.

WASHINGTON, CMC - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Antigua and Barbuda has made “excellent progress” towards achieving its goal of restoring debt sustainability and macroeconomic stability. An IMF mission headed by Geoffrey Bannister has recently completed a review of the 2010 multi-million dollar Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) to the island. “On the fiscal side, the fiscal outturn for March 2013 was well above programme targets, surpassing the performance criterion on the overall fiscal balance and the indicative target for the primary balance by a wide margin.

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua - Recently, there were two very interesting and important pieces of news in the local and international press that many people in Antigua & Barbuda might have overlooked. The first was the announcement that President Obama had picked Michael Froman to be the new United States Trade Representative (USTR).