PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Who’s minding the store?
Yesterday, the Sunday Express reported on the millon-dollar write-off at national carrier Caribbean Airlines (CAL) in the midst of the company’s financial turbulence.
Part 2 today considers whether CAL is being run in the best interest of its shareholders, the governments of Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, by the people appointed to manage it.
Trinidad and Tobago
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - The most troubling thing about the current fuss about free travel at Caribbean Airlines is how familiar it all is. During the many decades of the airline’s previous incarnation as BWIA, flights were plagued with freeloading and flight status abuses, whimsical efforts at pampering wealthy, powerful people who were perfectly capable of paying for their own first-class tickets to any destination to which the airline formerly known as BWee flew.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - The time has come for the Corporation Sole as represented by Finance Minister Larry Howai to step in and rescue the public interest from the politics and mismanagement at Caribbean Airlines (CAL). With red ink running across the airline’s balance sheets, Minister Howai needs to invoke his authority as the representative of shareholding taxpayers and assume his responsibility for taking the airline in hand. That he has already allowed so much wrong to continue without acting is unacceptable.
The Governments of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the Cooperative Republic of Guyana on 1 March 2013 signed a Memorandum of Understanding between both countries that seeks to promote greater cooperation in energy and energy related matters over the next two years.
Under the MoU, both parties will meet annually (or sooner, as mutually agreed) to review the status of the cooperation executed under the MOU, which includes support for the following areas_
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - A Miami-Dade police department bomb squad was called out to check a suspicious package yesterday afternoon outside the gate of a Caribbean Airlines (CAL) flight at Miami International Airport. Miami Airport and US aviation authorities grounded and searched CAL flight 483 after a ticking noise was reportedly heard coming from luggage aboard the aircraft, CAL chairman Rabindra Moonan said yesterday.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Accompanied by their spouses, political figures, a present and former state enterprise chairman, two directors and a television personality are among the passengers who were upgraded from economy to first class on directives from vice-chairman of Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL) Mohan Jaikaran.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Grenada’s Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell is returning home Friday after holding talks with his Trinidad and Tobago counterpart, Kamla Persad Bissessar on further improving trading and other relations between the two Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries.
A joint statement issued late Thursday night following their discussions noted that Trinidad and Tobago is Grenada's largest trading partner accounting for approximately 36 per cent of merchandise trade and 49 per cent of banking services. Insurance services are also significant between the two countries.
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.
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.
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.