Moontown

Joel Julien jjulien@trinidadexpress.com

AUSTRALIAN ship builder, Austal Ship Pty, has confirmed it has been contracted to “design and construct” four water taxis for this country. According to the company’s website, the contract is its third biggest commercial order for the year thus far.

Austal is the same company that was given the contract to make six fast patrol vessels for this country’s Coast Guard. These vessels are expected to be delivered to this country next month.

The company said the four water taxis will be high-speed passenger catamaran ferries designed to carry 405 passengers each at a speed of approximately 37 knots.

Delivery for these ferries is scheduled for late 2010 and the contract also includes “a maintenance and training package which will see Austal deliver crew familiarisation and planned maintenance management”, the website stated.

“The vessels will be owned by Trinidad and Tobago’s National Infrastructure Development Company Limited (NIDCO)-a government statutory authority-and operated by external consultants. The international tender process undertaken by NIDCO called for proven vessels that could be customised to best meet the proposed service and be delivered within 12 months of the effective contract,” the website stated.

“Passenger seating on board each vessel is split over two levels, with the main passenger deck featuring four passenger entry points, a central kiosk and dedicated baggage compartment and bike racks.

“The vessels will be powered by four MTU 16V2000 M72 engines driving Kamewa waterjets and will be fitted with Austal Ride Control to ensure passenger comfort.”

The website added: “As well as performing an important water taxi service, the ferries will provide emergency backup for the existing inter-island service between Trinidad and Tobago. To meet this secondary function, Austal configured all four vessels with the capability to retrofit a forward mounted T-foil ride control system at short notice, allowing the vessels to operate in open, unprotected seas.”

The interview González recently gave to Miami-based Radio Marti was the probable reason for his arrest. He also keeps a blog called Animal de Ancatarilla (http://www.cubaencuentro.com).

Anzardo is the editor of “Candonga” (http://www.candonga.org), an online newspaper for Cubans within the country that is currently inaccessible. He has also been reporting for the Miami-based website Payo Libre for more than three years. Payo Libre editor Pablo Rodriguez Carvajal said Anzardo has not been able to communicate with his family since his arrest.

“The authorities are going out of their way to stifle any online expression of the civil society that is emerging in Cuba,” Reporters Without Borders said. “This censorship reflects the government’s refusal to accept the current and future changes on the island, which are escaping its control.”

The press freedom organisation added: “It is high time that the foreign embassies in Havana remind the Cuban government of the obligations that result from its having signed the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in February 2008.”

The website of Voces Cubanas (http://vocescubanas.com), a platform that supports independent Cuban bloggers, has meanwhile been inaccessible within Cuba since 28 August. The same goes for the Payo Libre website since 10 September. The blog of Lia Villares (http://www.habanemia.blogspot.com) is also blocked, as is Yoani Sánchez’s blog, Generación Y (http://www.desdecuba.com/generacion).

The Cuban government often blocks websites dedicated to daily life on the island, only to restore access after a relatively short period. This repeated censorship tactic is a way of discouraging alternative sources of news and information while misleading the foreign media, which are not well represented on the island and are closely monitored by the authorities.

As Iván García Quintero says in his blog Penúltimas Días, getting access to the Internet is a Kafkaesque obstacle course for bloggers and everyone else in Cuba, which has one of the lowest rates of Internet access in the western hemisphere. According to official sources, 13 per cent of the population is online but in practice the rate is probably lower.

A public Internet connection costs six dollars an hour in a country in which the average monthly salary is the equivalent of 20 dollars, while very few Cubans have private access to the Internet. Aside from the fact that all private connections must be approved by the only Internet Service Provider, the state-owned ETECSA, computer equipment is prohibitively expensive because retail prices are the same as in western countries while, in general, the population’s purchasing power is 100 times smaller.

Furthermore, connections are extremely slow, so slow that bloggers say they cannot always read what they themselves have posted online.

The Dutch embassy and the US Interests Section offer free Internet access of much better quality to the public, but several hours of waiting is often necessary in order to use it. After Raúl Castro took over as president, the government lifted a ban on Cubans entering tourist hotels, which have better connections. But supervision has been reinforced again and several bloggers, such as Yoani Sánchez, have been turned away when they tried to enter hotels (see video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LpSCqfKPeA).

Finally, several sources say that the University of Computer Sciences is helping to monitor and censor the Internet in Cuba.

With 26 journalists detained, Cuba currently ranks alongside Iran as the world’s third biggest prison for journalists, following Eritrea and China.

The imprisoned journalists include Reporters Without Borders correspondent Ricardo González Alfonso, who has been held since March 2003.

The western hemisphere’s last dictatorship was ranked 169th out of 173 countries in the 2008 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

Bringing with them the latest information as well as new opportunities for business and trade, the delegation comprises dynamic enterprises that represent various industries, ranging from fashion, gifts and stationery, furniture, auto parts, electronics to high tech industries. The trade mission not only serves as a platform for networking and meeting among all enterprises but it is also seen as an ideal occasion for establishing closer trade ties between Taiwan and the countries within the Caribbean region.

The delegation initially begins their trade mission with a 2-day stop in Trinidad & Tobago from Sept. 24 to 25. A seminar on Sept. 25th, which will be held in Port of Spain, will present Taiwan’s latest business opportunities. Various trade meetings between the Taiwan delegates and local enterprises will follow after the event. From Sept. 28 to 29, the delegates will be exhibiting their products in Kingstown of St Vincent, and from Oct. 2 to 4 the delegates will be exhibiting their products in St Lucia.

The organizer of this trade mission, TAITRA, will also showcase winning products of the Taiwan Excellence Gold Awards, as well as numerous promotional materials and catalogs to represent Taiwan’s key business sectors, at the same time offer helpful tips on how to do business with Taiwan. In addition, TAITRA will facilitate in product/supplier sourcing and match-making with Taiwanese manufacturers as well. Therefore, TAITRA welcomes and invites enterprises to take advantage of this chance to learn more about Taiwan and the business prospects that are available on the island.

Premier of Nevis and Minister of Tourism, Joseph Parry

He said the Education Department led by Principal Education Officer Lornette Connor and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education Joseph Wilshire had been asked to spearhead a study into the Values System.

“We need again to teach values in schools but this effort must expand beyond the schools and must be embraced by our communities. We will expand this debate to every village, every church, every community and we will involve our leaders in the private sector, in non-governmental organisations in every aspect of life in our community.

“We want Nevisians to be courteous, to be polite, to be decent to each other, to respect life, to understand that human life is sacred and must not be treated lightly. At the same time our people must maintain their self esteem and feel proud that they are Nevisians” he said.

Parry explained that Nevisians were known to be independent minded, proud and hard working and that the present generation and succeeding ones, should be reminded of those traditional values.

With regard to crime, the Premier said many of the efforts of the NIA were to help build Nevisians and to take them away from a path that led to a life of crime.

“We continue our training efforts at home and abroad. As part of the education process we are also doing this to strengthen our efforts to reduce the level of crime on the island.

“We will encourage and initiate the development of activities to bring people from villages and around the island together. We will encourage our people to socialise again without fear of fights, gunfire and violence,” he said.

Parry noted that a number of community centres would be constructed with research facilities, where training and recreational activities would take place.

“The activities that will be encouraged will be a challenge to people to turn away from negative things and to do positive things for themselves and their community.

“We will seek to again establish voluntary programmes, voluntary activities to foster and engender a sense of giving, a sense of doing, in an effort to remove that self-indulgence that is becoming predominant in our society,” he said.

Bridgetown Cruise Terminal

Minister of Tourism, Richard Sealy recently revealed that a meeting has been scheduled between Barbados’ Prime Minister, David Thompson and president of British-based P&O Cruises, David Dingle, to promote Barbados as the most significant home port after Puerto Rico in the Caribbean.

“Because we are so far from North America, unless you are talking about a 7 – 10-day cruise, Barbados cannot compete because it is so far south. So we are pitching our tent where we are strongest.”

Sealy added that cruising as a vacation is currently on the rise and Barbados has been a recipient of that increased business. He added that this was encouraging considering the present challenges affecting land-based visitor arrivals.

“Worldwide trends depict tremendous growth is occurring in the area of cruise travel and the Caribbean continues to be the No. 1 region for cruise. Our long stay arrivals are down 11 per cent year to date and are expected to be between 10 and 12 per cent down at year end. Demand has been dampened significantly but cruise is growing.”

In 2008, 597,523 cruise passengers visited the island and by 2009 that number is predicted to grow significantly. Among the reasons the minister cited as drivers for this positive pattern of growth include the fact that “we are still a very attractive stop; the increase in home porting is another factor; and cruises are growing overall internationally”.

One of the main regions generating these additional cruise travellers is Europe and during the period September 15 – 17, 2009 a contingent from the Caribbean and Latin America travelled to Hamburg, Germany for Seatrade Europe Convention under the Caribbean Village banner. Their primary objective was to promote the unique blend of cultures and exciting product offerings within the region, while reinforcing the Caribbean’s top position among competing cruise destinations.

With Barbados receiving more inbound flights from Europe than any other Caribbean island, as well as the fact that island is visited by the vast majority of the world’s major cruise lines, thus enabling potential visitors from this burgeoning market to easily join their preferred cruise vessels, the minister was confident that the prospects for home porting for Barbados were very bright.

While reflecting on other ways to develop the cruise visitor experience, the minister purported that the separation of cargo and cruise business at the Bridgetown Port was a major consideration going forward if the cruise experience was to become more visitor friendly. Sealy also suggested that there was still revenue growth potential for the island if visitors were able to spend a longer period of time on the island while in port.

“Most ships leave by 4 pm limiting the number of activities people can engage in while on shore, with fine dining being a prime example of experiences they miss out on.”

NEW YORK, USA (Reuters) — The president of Guyana wants to turn his country into one of the world’s most environmentally progressive countries by preserving vast swaths of tropical rain forest — if rich nations pay for it.

To help prevent climate change, Bharrat Jagdeo told Reuters in an interview, he could keep intact some 37 million acres (15 million hectares) of mostly untouched rain forest in the South American country by being paid an annual fee of up to $580 million.

Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo speaks at a Team Earth news conference in New York. Jagdeo joined business leaders to garner support for forest protection ahead of the UN General General Assembly and Copenhagen climate negotiations. AFP PHOTO

“We can generate money from preserving the forests, we can use these resources to invest in low carbon opportunities, and we can use some of the money to make our economy climate-resilient,” Jagdeo said before a climate change summit at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Protecting forests is crucial, he said, as destruction of tropical forests releases more carbon dioxide emissions than all the world’s cars, trucks, planes and trains combined.

Ninety percent of the less than 1 million people in his small country live on the coast and Jagdeo said the government would have to build walls to protect them from rising sea levels.

He said his preservation model could be replicated in other countries and incorporated into a new climate change agreement to be signed in Copenhagen in December.

“By Copenhagen, we can show a real country model working that would address all of the issues that have come up in the negotiations,” he said.

He said the biggest stumbling blocks to making his model work were persuading rich countries that payments they make to poor ones would be used transparently, and convincing poor countries they would not give up sovereignty when they agree to set aside forests for conservation.

Guyana’s neighbor, Brazil, which has the largest tropical forests in the Americas, has traditionally been very protective of its sovereignty over the Amazon and resisted any foreign pressure that would require it to curb deforestation rates.

Negotiations for Copenhagen among 190 nations are stalled over how to share the burden of curbs on gas emissions through 2020 between rich and poor nations and how to raise perhaps $100 billion a year to help the poor combat warming and adapt to changes such as rising seas.

“What will constitute a good agreement in Copenhagen for me is one that has deep emissions cuts, adequate financing and improving forests as an abatement solution,” Jagdeo said.

“Developed countries need to take the biggest steps.”

Although Jagdeo wants to turn Guyana into a low-carbon economy that relies on green energy, he said only rich countries should face mandated deep cuts in carbon emissions.

Poor countries fear they might sacrifice future economic growth if they agree to mandatory reductions.

“We don’t want to pass blame, but many of the developed countries used these traditional tools to get where they are today. Many people feel that they are kicking away the ladder now, they don’t want us to use the same development tools, which were high carbon,” he said.

“We believe we don’t have to go that route, we believe that we can shift to a low carbon direction without compromising our development prospects, but we have to be helped to that route.”