Member

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Minister of Labour Dr Errol Cort has reassured the aviation industry that “extensive” consultations would have to take place before government acts on suggestions to designate that industry an essential service.
“I am aware of the recent call by the CEO of LIAT for the aviation sector to be named an essential service in this country,” Dr. Cort said.
“While we are open to all ideas before we move ahead of anything, there will certainly be extensive consultation on that and any other matter.

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Concerns surrounding State-owned airlines in Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries clearly exist amongst a wide cross section of the community. Evidence of this arose not only from the fact that fellow writer on Caribbean affairs, David Jessop, tackled this issue in the same week that I did, but also from the comments that have been sent to me.
This commentary features some of the comments that I have received.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago will host a meeting of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Canadian public and private sector officials to share best practices, Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar has announced.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Noted financial crime expert and money-laundering author Jeffrey Robinson said if Caribbean governments wait it out, the United States’ Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) will not be around in five years.
“FATCA worldwide is still born. FATCA will eventually die because there will be too many big jurisdictions who will simply refuse to comply,” he said.
“It won’t work because there will be non-compliance by the Caymans and there will be non-compliance by Switzerland … The Chinese are not going to report.”

WASHINGTON D.C., United States – A major United States publication says Antigua and Barbuda will be a “Caribbean headache” for President Barack Obama’s new nominee of chief trade negotiator - Michael Froman.
Bloomberg Businessweek says Michael Froman has “plenty of negotiating work ahead of him.
“With so many challenges ahead, you can forgive Froman if fixing a dispute with the tiny country of Antigua and Barbuda doesn’t rank high on his to-do list.”

KINGSTON, Jamaica - After a mere 20 months in the job, Mr Irwin LaRocque, the Caricom secretary general, must feel a bit dispirited.
For, based on the information provided by eminent Caribbean journalist Mr Rickey Singh, and published in this week's Sunday Observer, Caricom now faces the danger of disintegration, instead of deepened economic integration and functional co-operation.
According to Mr Singh, that is the likely outcome if the regional movement fails to put in place a new management system for effective governance of its affairs.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Apparently now more disposed to striking a militant posture to influence decision-making processes at the Caribbean Community Secretariat, Secretary General Irwin LaRocque made a spirited intervention at last week’s ministerial meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED).

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Advocate -The year 2012 was hot! In fact, it was ranked among one of the top 10 warmest years on record, says Omar Baddour, Climatologist with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). This, despite the cooling influence of La Niña early in the year. He recently indicated that extreme weather and climate events were also noted last year, such as Tropical Storm Sandy which hit the United States and the Caribbean.

THE South American country of Guyana is trying to decide what to do with a large quantity of gold it bought from local miners when demand was high. President Donald Ramotar said Saturday that he will meet with advisers to determine when it's best to sell the gold following a recent fall in prices. He declined to say how much gold the Guyana Gold Board had bought from local miners, but miners' association spokesman Tony Shields puts the number at 60,000 ounces. He says the association warned the government about dropping prices.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - Key stakeholders in the business community in western Jamaica are cautiously optimistic about the deal struck between the Government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and have given the Richard Byles and Brian Wynter-led monitoring committee its vote of confidence.