Haiti

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer has joined other Caricom leaders at the 24th Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, February 18-19.
During the deliberations, Prime Minister Spencer will take the opportunity to brief his colleagues over the recent authorisation from the World Trade Organisation Dispute Settlement Body.

PORT-AU-PRINCE -- The arms control debate arrived in Haiti on Monday as members of a regional trade bloc sought the United States’ help in ensuring that an international treaty aimed at regulating the $70 billion global arms trade includes a provision for small arms.
The issue was among several vexing crime and security concerns raised during a closed-door discussion with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who attended a summit of the 15-member Caribbean Community, known as Caricom, before flying to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands Monday afternoon.

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar Monday warned regional leaders that they need to adopt “urgent and drastic action” to deal with the scourge of transnational crime in the Caribbean.
Addressing the leaders at the 24th intersessional summit here, Persad Bissessar, who has lead responsibility for security within the quasi Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Cabinet, said “I fear we have found ourselves in a very serious situation and we are running out of time as the scourge of transnational crime is slowly taking over the region.

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, CMC – Caribbean Community (CARICCOM) leaders began a historic summit here on Monday with CARICOM Secretary General Irwin LaRocque indicating there is a need to stave off existing challenges to the regional integration movement that is observing its 40th anniversary. LaRocque told regional leaders that there can be no greater indicator, “symbolic and substantive, that Haiti has taken its rightful place within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) by hosting the summit.

PORT-AU-PRINCE -- When Jamaican officials snubbed a group of young Haitian soccer players who visited two years ago on the heels of a deadly cholera outbreak in their quake-torn homeland, a revolted Marguerite Rigaud immediately went into action. In a matter of days, the Pétionville restaurateur had thousands of Haitians marching through the streets of Port-au-Prince protesting the boys’ mistreatment by a fellow Caribbean nation. “I couldn’t believe that another black nation would do this to a sister nation. I found it revolting,” Rigaud said.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana - THE CRIME menace afflicting the Caribbean region as well as recurring air transportation woes are scheduled for special focus at the two-day 24th Inter-Sessional Meeting of Caribbean Community Heads of Government that gets underway today in Haiti.
Participating in the special session on crime and security with the CARIC0M leaders and their relevant cabinet colleagues will be the Attorney General of the United States of America, Eric Holder.

The IDEAS Energy Innovation Contest is funded by Inter American Development Bank, DFID, and is being jointly implemented by IDB and Global Village Energy Partners International (GVEP-I).The contest was first staged in 2009 in Latin America and the Caribbean and saw 3 winners from CARICOM Region.  For this the second staging greater emphasis is being placed on Caribbean Region.  A number of mini-launches is being done across the CARICOM countries in Haiti, St Lucia, Guyana and Suriname, for this second staging.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders meet in Haiti next week for their annual Inter-sessional summit where they will discuss a wide range of issues including crime and security, the CARICOM Regional Aid for Trade Strategy, and a report on the Regional Architecture for Financial Stability. A CARICOM Secretariat statement said that the “historic” meeting will be addressed by the host head of state, President Michel Martelly, St. Lucia’s Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony and the CARICOM Secretary General Irwin LaRocque.

(Caribbean News) - Three years after the devastating Port-au-Prince earthquake, one of the largest international relief projects in Haiti isn't anywhere near where the quake hit. It's an industrial park on the north coast halfway between Cap-Haitien and the border with the Dominican Republic. Aid agencies are pouring millions of dollars into the project to encourage people to move out of the overcrowded capital and create jobs. Critics, however, say the jobs don't pay enough to lift people out of poverty.

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, CMC – Head of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Representation Office in Haiti, Ambassador Earl Huntley, says Haitians may have a valid case if they go before the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) challenging the need for a visa to visit member CARICOM countries. “In fact I suspect that if they were to the challenge this at the CCJ in terms of the treaty they could probably win it,” Huntley said.