KINGSTON, Jamaica - Dr Herminio Blanco has been chosen to contend in the next round of the selection process for Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The selection committee, based in Geneva, Switzerland, and headed by the president of the WTO's General Council, presented the results of the first stage of consultations which involved the 159 member countries of the organisation.
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ST JOHN’S, Antigua - A regional cricket historian has cautioned concerned groups in Antigua & Barbuda to revamp the cricket museum or risk having important artifacts wither away. Stephen Almandos of Trinidad & Tobago is referring to the former property of convicted fraudster Allen Stanford, the Sticky Wicket Cricket Museum/Hall of Fame, which tumbled along with the rest of the ex-billionaires empire.
ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – China has agreed to provide nearly four million EC dollars (One EC dollar = US$0.37 cents) to finance the final phase of a 350 housing programme across the island. An agreement has been signed between Housing Minister Delma Thomas and the Charge d’Affaires at the Chinese Embassy here, Chen Robio.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - The Court of Appeal yesterday granted a stay stopping the decision of a High Court judgment which ordered that almost 250 Clico policyholders be repaid their full investments in the failed insurance giant. The stay was granted by Appeal Court judge Alice Yorke Soo Hon during a chamber court hearing at the Hall of Justice, Port-of-Spain. Soo Hon decided to grant the stay after she heard the State’s submissions on the merits of the appeal.
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC - The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) says it is providing US$100,000 to Jamaica to support the island’s post-disaster recovery and restoration initiatives following the effects of Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. In a statement, the CCRIF, which is a not-for-profit risk pooling facility, owned, operated by Caribbean governments, said Jamaica’s hurricane policy with CCRIF did not trigger after Hurricane Sandy because losses were below the policy’s attachment point or “deductible”.
CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC – The St. Lucia government will present the estimates of revenue and expenditure to Parliament next week. A government statement said that the presentation will follow the ceremonial opening of Parliament on April 24 when Governor General Dame Pearlette Louisy will deliver the traditional Throne speech outlining the government’s programmes for the 12 months. The estimates will be debated on April 25 and 26.
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Jamaica government is to outline a solution that it hopes will facilitate the re-opening of the Russian owned ALPART and Kirkvine bauxite plants here. Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Minister Phillip Paulwell will outline the solution when he make his contribution to the 2013/14 Sectoral Debate. The government has been engaged in months of intense negotiations with the Russian-based aluminium company, UC Rusal, for the resumption of operations at the facilities, which closed in 2009.
ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – The Dominica government Monday said it would continue discussions with the European Union and other stakeholders amid reports that a French company Electricite de France (EdF) was withdrawing from the geothermal project here. In a statement, the Roosevelt Skerrit government said that over the past six months, it has made “significant progress on the terms of an agreement with EdF and NGE, a French infrastructural development company regarding the project.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Particular attention must be given to Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs), with regards to how Information and Communication Technologies or ICTs, may be applied to improve their efficiency, extend their reach and make them more globally competitive. That is according to Dr. Keith Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada during his address to the University of the West Indies Students Today Ambassadors Tomorrow (UWISTAT) lecture, held recently at the Cave Hill Campus.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - There were heightened discussions in government circles yesterday that a Cabinet reshuffle could coincide with the upcoming Budget Debate. Dr Peter Phillips, the finance minister who succeeded in eking out a long-awaited deal to be signed later this month with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), appears to be the big winner in the impending Cabinet shake-up. Well-placed government sources told The Gleaner that A.J. Nicholson, the foreign affairs minister, appears to be left out of the Cabinet.