Moontown

All 20 member countries are expected to attend this conference. Delegates will be debating on socio-economic and political matters that threaten to hinder the region’s development

Chief Executive Officers of large, medium and small sized enterprises operating in the Sector, international experts, representatives of the academic community and senior public service officials are among those who will participate in the Regional Symposium on Services which will be held in St John’s from 15-17 July 2009.

An organizing committee is working assiduously to ensure the smooth running of the Symposium which is being organized by the CARICOM Secretariat in collaboration with the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It will be held under the patronage of Baldwin Spencer, lead Head of Government with responsibility for Services in the CARICOM Quasi Cabinet.

In recognition of the importance of the Sector to Regional economies, Heads of Government of CARICOM, at their just-concluded 30th Meeting held at the Guyana International Conference Centre in Georgetown, Guyana, agreed that Member States’ delegations to the Symposium will include the highest possible level of public sector representation and a Ministerial representative, especially of those Heads of Government whose portfolios in the Quasi Cabinet overlap with that of Services.

The Sector, which covers a range of activities, is the driver of economic growth in the CSME, accounting for more than 66 per cent of GDP and employment and no less than 70 per cent of export earnings. Activities in the Sector range from retail and distribution services, cultural and entertainment services, consultancy services and financial services. Broad sub-sectors include Communications; Business; Construction and Related Engineering Services; Education; Environmental; Financial; Health-related and Social Services; Tourism and Travel Related Services; Recreational, Cultural and Sporting Services; and Transport; Distribution.

The three main aims of the Symposium are to:

• Sensitise the key stakeholders in the sector on how to capitalize on the Region’s comparative advantage in the area of Services for the increased development of the Community

• Develop a plan of action for the period 2009-2013/14

• Identify elements of the Services component of the Regional Strategic Plan for Development within the Context of the CSME.

Heads of Government said they looked forward to receiving the Draft Strategic Plan for Services and the Plan of Action for the next five years which is to be considered by the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) and presented at the next Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference scheduled for Dominica in 2010.

Presentations at the Symposium will be done under the themes `The Single Economy Vision’; `Investment Trade and Development Linkages’; `Regional Challenges and Opportunities Confronting Trade and Development in Services’, `Making Services Work for Development’ and `The Vision of the Leader’.

Presenters at the three-day event will be drawn from among the World Trade Organisation (WTO), UNCTAD, and the CARICOM Secretariat.

The Symposium is being held even as Heads of Government acknowledged the debilitating effects of the global economic and financial crisis on the Services Sector.

Bharrat Jagdeo, President of the Republic of Guyana and Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government referred to the challenges in the Tourism and Financial Sectors, in particular.

“Several of our countries have been faced with devastating consequences because of this global financial crisis. Many of the sectors that we have encouraged in the past, particularly our Services Sector, have been decimated by the global events. Tourism, which provides a significant part of our income; financial services because of what’s happening with the CLICO and Stanford situations have taken tremendous hits,” President Jagdeo noted.

Manning mum on acceptance; Kamla calls it a hoax

Juhel Browne jbrowne@trinidadexpress.com

Prime Minister Patrick Manning said yesterday that Attorney General John Jeremie offered his resignation from the second highest ranking Cabinet post, but did not tender it.

Manning did so as he issued a brief statement to reporters during the tea-break of yesterday’s sitting of the House of Representatives at 4.40 p.m., in which he denied he had told reporters earlier in the day at the Dayanand Vedic Memorial School that Jeremie had tendered his resignation. (See Page 7)

“I never said that. I said that he had offered his resignation.

“…He is in London now, when he gets back we will talk. We will talk again,” Manning said.

Manning was making reference to the fact that the Attorney General is now in London.

Manning also did not answer any questions concerning whether he planned to accept Jeremie’s resignation, but in his brief statement sought to make a distinction between someone offering a resignation as opposed to tendering it.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of the verb “offer” is to present for acceptance, refusal or consideration, as well as to express a willingness to do something for someone. The Oxford Dictionary also states the verb “tender” means to offer or present formally.

In Webster’s Dictionary, the word “offer” has several meanings, including to make available or accessible, provide or furnish, or to present for acceptance or rejection, while the word “tender” means to offer or present for acceptance.

Criminal Bar Association president Desmond Allum, SC, one of those who supported the motion of no confidence in the Attorney General, had called on Jeremie to resign after the Law Association had passed a resolution of no confidence in him on July 1.

In an Express exclusive published on July 1, Jeremie said, “Whatever happens, I am not certain that the Law Association is empowered with the responsibility or the power to remove a sitting attorney general. They can do nothing about that.”

Jeremie also said that he had a job to do and outlined his priorities, as he made reference to the ongoing forensic audits of CLICO and the Clico Investment Bank (CIB), which belongs to the CL Financial group that has benefitted from an initial $1.3 billion taxpayer bailout authorised by the Cabinet.

Allum had recalled that the last time the Law Association passed a resolution of no confidence was against Russell Martineau, SC, when he was Attorney General. Martineau had tendered his resignation to then Prime Minister George Chambers, who refused to accept it.

Law Association president Martin Daly said yesterday the association will not comment until it meets on the matter next week.

Manning’s announcement yesterday morning was widely reported in electronic media news broadcasts as Jeremie having in fact tendered his resignation.

Jeremie was reappointed as Attorney General, the post he held for six years until the 2007 general election, after Bridgid Annisette-George resigned from the job in late May after serving for only 18 months.

Curtis Rampersad Business Editor

Saturday, July 11th 2009

CL Financial chairman Dr Euric Bobb has resigned.

Bobb, a former Central Bank governor who was recently appointed by Government and CL Financial to lead the beleaguered Port of Spain conglomerate out of a billion-dollar meltdown, tendered his resignation as head of the CL board, but will remain a director of the real estate and insurance group.

Water and Sewerage Authority chairman and current CL Financial director Dr Shafeek Sultan-Khan was elected yesterday to replace Bobb during a board meeting in Port of Spain, CL said in a statement.

Bobb will also continue as chairman of CL Financial’s insurance subsidiary, CLICO, as well as other related companies within the group that was once led by businessman Lawrence Duprey.

Duprey recently resigned his positions within the CL Financial group, but remains a substantial shareholder in the group he built into a billion-dollar group that operated almost 70 companies in 32 countries.

International banker Steve Bideshi, who was also recently appointed a CL Financial director, was appointed CL’s interim managing director at the board meeting, which lasted about two hours yesterday.

Bideshi, a Trinidad and Tobago national, has worked as country head of Citi Group in Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey and Israel.

“His duties at (CL Financial) will specifically include a focus on the group’s corporate strategy and restructuring of its debt,” group finance director, Michael Carballo, the statement said.

CL Financial approached the Government for a financial rescue in January and following analyses of its financial position, it was determined that it will require about $5 billion over the next three years to help the conglomerate out of financial trouble.

Bobb’s resignation yesterday ended days of speculation about his position at CL Financial.

Last Friday, Opposition Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner told the House of Representatives that Bobb had resigned.

“A little birdie told me,” Bobb resigned, Warner said.

Bobb, who lives in Washington DC, will now focus on restructuring CLICO, the country’s largest insurer, since its operations affect more than 100,000 policyholders and thousands of pension plans in the country, sources close to the board’s discussions told the Express yesterday.

CL Financial will hold a special meeting at its hospitality suite at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, on Wednesday, to get shareholders’ approval on restructuring changes going forward.