ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries are among several nations committed to a ministerial declaration and a three year action plan that aims, among other things, to create at least one biosphere reserve in each Caribbean Small Island Developing State.
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KINGSTON, Jamaica - Private-sector leaders say reports yesterday that Jamaica could have a new deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by month end will have some immediate positive impact, but warned that it cannot be business as usual. With the continued devaluation of the Jamaican dollar, the heads of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association (JMA), and the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) all agreed that stability in the foreign-exchange markets would be one of the immediate impacts of the pending IMF agreement.
KINGSTON, Jamaica- The Ministry of Finance and Planning has subdued its glee in reacting to the likelihood of an inked deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by month end, which could result in a cumulative drawdown of around US$2 billion from the Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the World Bank over the next four years. "We are looking very good. Technically, there is an agreement, but in reality, we don't have it as yet," stressed a senior official from the ministry.
CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC - Civil Servants were returning to their jobs on Tuesday after voting on Monday to end a near three week strike in support of demands for higher wages.
Their decision to end the strike will also allow their union – the Civil Service Association (CSA) to return to the bargaining table with the government negotiating team (GNT) that had earlier indicated it would not be prepared to resume negotiations until the workers end their crippling strike action.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -The Government of Barbados has been accused of being involved in a "huge cover-up" after local authorities trampled on the rights of Jamaican woman Shanique Myrie. The claim was made yesterday before the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) by the lawyer representing Myrie in her discrimination case against Barbados.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Technocrats can do a lot more to build confidence in the ability of state institutions to facilitate an enabling environment for business, to create a greener environment for generations to come and to position Barbados to take full advantage of its CARICOM membership. Recently, Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development, Donville Inniss, stated that there were issues which need to be addressed within the Port that were impacting heavily on the ease of doing business and the cost of living.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Lawyers for a Jamaican national who claimed that their client had been discriminated against because of her nationality when she travelled to Barbados on March 14, 2011 called for substantial compensation as the matter resumed at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on Monday. Attorney Michelle Brown told the six-member CCJ panel of judges that the regional court, should also lay down firm guidelines pertaining to the treatment of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nationals at airports throughout the 15-member regional grouping.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - On the Caricom front, Trinidad and Tobago has unexpectedly been drawn into a low-level confrontation against the United States, its own major trading partner. Two areas of conflict comprise online gambling (whereby players participate in virtual casinos online), as pursued by Antigua and Barbuda, and rum exports to the US, in which T&T shares concerns with some 14 regional states. Antigua and Barbuda has been subject to adverse reviews about its loose controls that have been known to welcome financial adventurers and worse.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana – During his visit here in March Haitian President and sitting Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Chairman Michel Martelly provided confirmation of what we already knew …that more than three years after a devastating earthquake that claimed thousands of lives and wreaked monumental physical damage, the country still faces a long and arduous journey on the road to recovery. It is likely that Mr. Martelly’s entire presidential term will be spent seeking material around the world for his country’s rebuilding process.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Jeffrey Robinson, considered the world’s leading financial crime author, is warning the nation and all Caribbean countries that a “financial tsunami” will hit the region in a few years and the time to plan a response is now. “In the next three to five years, Fidel Castro will die and when he does Raul (Castro) will not be able to hang on,” he said. “The invasion of Cuba is now being planned and it will be massive. It will be something the likes of which no one has seen before.”