KINGSTON, Jamaica - WITH SPECULATIONS rife over whether Venezuela would continue the PetroCaribe arrangement if Hugo Chávez is replaced as president, Jamaica's energy minister says willpower such as the ailing leader's is a necessary ingredient to the survival of the deal.
"I think there is commitment on the part of the administration (to continue it), but because there was opposition domestically. It does require a strength of character that President Chávez has to see it through, cause it what it will," Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell told The Gleaner yesterday.
Jamaica
KINGSTON, Jamaica - Judging from last Sunday evening's hunky-dory speech by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, our Government may not have noticed that Jamaica is hanging precariously over, according to the American coinage, a fiscal cliff.
Or, the PM has deliberately chosen to ignore the reality and sell Jamaicans a false sense of security. In the absence of ignorance of the facts, that can be the only explanation of the prime minister's failure to engage Jamaicans frankly on the difficult choices facing the country.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - YESTERDAY the Chicago Tribune (President Obama's major hometown newspaper and one of the top five newspapers in the US) wrote an editorial with the title "Jamaica's Debt Hurricane", subtitled "The Greece of the Western Hemisphere". The editorial argued that Jamaica, like Greece, "illustrates the catastrophic effects of borrowing way too much, and the painful choices that follow".
KINGSTON, Jamaica - AN editorial in the Chicago Tribune — one of the largest and most respected newspapers in the United States — which described the Jamaican economy as being in worse shape than that of Greece and an example of what could happen to countries that continue to pile up debt, has been viewed as inaccurate from representatives of both sides of the political divide.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - INTERNATIONAL trade is vital to the survival and economic growth of small vulnerable developing economies (SVDEs). The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is the international agency charged with negotiation of the rules which constitute the multilateral trading system. The implementation and the adjudication of disputes in the interpretation and application of the rules also fall within its purview.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - In a broadcast Sunday evening, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller provided her account of the stewardship of the Government in the year since its election. She followed up yesterday with newspaper advertisements in her role as president of the People's National Party. This newspaper welcomes these initiatives. Reporting to constituents is an important component of leadership.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - The year 2012 was a challenging one for equity investors in CARICOM. Despite solid gains on manufacturing, conglomerate and banking stocks, returns were depressed by declines on tourism, real estate, insurance, investments and retail stocks.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - WE are aware that many factors can affect negotiations between the Government and business entities wishing to set operations here.
Those factors can range from complex to the most minute detail. Either way, they most times lead to start-up delays that frustrate all parties involved.
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC - With international pressure mounting on Jamaica to re-double its efforts to clamp down on human trafficking, the task force appointed to deal with this issue is pushing for amendments to already existing legislation. According to Carol Palmer, Chairperson of the Task force Against Human Trafficking, the recommended amendments will be submitted to Cabinet shortly for approval. She said the changes were aimed at increasing penalties as well as including other aspects of human trafficking that may not have been included in previous legislation.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - Ambassador Derick Heaven is a man for whom this newspaper has the utmost respect and whose grasp of the intricacies of the global sugar industry is undoubted. Importantly, he has been a champion of the cause of reforming the industry, promoting the concept of a sugar cane, rather than a sugar, industry.