Moontown

At the opening ceremony of the convocation on the CSME  on Friday morning in Bridgetown, Barbados, the heads of the Caribbean Congress on Labour (CCL) and the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce (CAIC) both expressed disappointment at the pace of the integration movement’s flagship programme, and called on the Community to use the forum to determine the way forward, together.

While noting that the Convocation was timely, Jacqueline Jack, President of the CCL, said the Region could not be proud of the fact that key elements of the CSME were not in place some 20 years after the Grand Anse Declaration that laid the foundation for the CSME.

The CARICOM Single Market came into effect in January 2006 while the Single Economy is scheduled to come on stream in 2015.

She acknowledged the progress made with regard to the Free Movement of Capital and Harmonisation of Company Law, but told the gathering that the CCL was not happy at the “state of affairs in respect of the Free Movement of Labour.”

She said the umbrella labour body was still waiting to see measures put in place to realise, among other areas, the free movement of labour without barriers; removal of work permits; hassle-free travel; provisions for the transfer of social security benefits; and the harmonisation of labour laws.

Carol Evelyn, President of the CAIC, also stressed that much more needed to be done on the free movement of skills.

“The private sector is disheartened that entry into Member States is still at the whims and fancies of Immigration officers. Officers are yet to be trained and sensitized to the implementation of the regional approach to free movement of people and the hassle free movement of CARICOM nationals. As a result and as noted by our services providers, entrepreneurs still find it easier to enter a territory under the guise of vacation, despite the introduction of skills certificates,’ he said.

Pointing out that the free movement of people was a critical factor to the development of the regional private sector and ultimately, economic growth, Mr. Evelyn said the private sector could not effectively compete with extra-regional firms “if we are unable to recruit the best skills and talents from within the region through the CSME, or to move freely throughout the Region to provide services.”

Jack also expressed disappointment that labour was “no longer relevant or important.”

“…It is imperative that I remind participants at the Convocation that labour has played a most significant role in the development of this region. Labour has been in the vanguard of forging a United Caribbean long before the birth of Federation, CARIFTA, CARICOM and now the Caribbean Single Market and Economy and therefore labour will not opt out of the struggle to achieve the somewhat elusive goal Caribbean unity.

“However, it saddens me to see that instead of keeping labour as a significant partner, labour is being sidelined. The Caribbean Congress of Labour no longer has a place at the Conference of Heads of Government annual meetings where views are exchanged between the heads and civil society,” she said, arguing that it was a signal that labour was no longer relevant or important. She called for the revisiting of this decision.

Jack also urged participants to use the Convocation as a vehicle “not only to examine our failures, but rather, let us together determine how we can move forward – for we are living in tough times, having to deal with a global financial crisis, climate change and global warming, to name but a few.”

Stakeholders at the two-day Convocation will consider four core issues: the appraisal of the state of implementation of the CARICOM Single Market (CSM), a review of the Schedule of Free Movement of Persons, Contingent Rights, and the Single Economy.

St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister and current Chairman of OECS, Denzil L Douglas (right) listens to Caribbean Ferries President, Nestor Gonzalez in Puerto Rico. (Photo by Erasmus Williams)

President of Caribbean Ferries, Nestor Gonzalez met with St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister and Current Chairman of the Authority of the OECS, Denzil Douglas during his recent visit to the Municipality of Caguas.

The service will also operate between the north-eastern Caribbean islands and Puerto Rico.

Douglas pointed out that transportation is a major challenge in the Caribbean region and the introduction of such a service, transporting passengers and their vehicles between Puerto Rico and the islands in the north-eastern Caribbean would introduce a new dimension for economic activity in the sub-region.

“This will increase commercial business between St Kitts and Nevis, the OECS and Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic,” said Douglas, who informed Gonzalez of a similar inter-Federation service by the Nevisian Company “Sea Bridge” between Nevis and St Kitts.

Douglas suggested that Caribbean Ferries submits the proposal to the OCES Secretariat through the OECS Promotion and Investment Office in Puerto Rico.

Caribbean Ferries has successfully operated a ferry service between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic for the past 10 years. The service transports 1,150 passengers and 365 vehicles per trip.

Ministry of Finance, Audley Shaw

His call came in the context of the 98th Meeting of the Committee of the Board of Governors of the IDB considering, among other things, a proposal for an increase in the capital of the IDB to support its development assistance agenda.

Recognizing the substantial support of the IDB to Jamaica in various areas, including growth sustainability, transport infrastructure, water and sanitation, Shaw advocated an expanded development assistance envelope to Jamaica to facilitate further investments in agriculture and energy.

He cited the fresh and processed foods sectors, as areas that offer vast potential for expansion, as the markets in tourism and the Caribbean Diaspora offer many opportunities, through linkages and demand for ethnic foods. He also highlighted the need for greater support in energy, given the increased focus on the sector, amidst efforts to reduce dependence on high oil imports and the high costs of production.

The Finance Minister also noted that the IDB and other multilateral agencies’ support in these areas would advance efforts to increase the country’s competitiveness and efficiency, as well as the pursuit of further diversification of the economy and reduced vulnerability.

Shaw expressed Jamaica’s full support for a General Capital Increase in the resources of the IDB, to enable the organization to play an enhanced role in the sustainable economic development of Jamaica and the countries of the region.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana — Tragedy has struck Regent Street in Georgetown, the capital of Guyana, on Friday afternoon, when a fire of unknown origin completely gutted three businesses.

Reports are the blaze started around 4:00 pm in one of the businesses, Regent Household Electronics.

According to employees of the city business, there was a power outage and shortly after the electricity was restored they saw smoke emanating from the upper floor of the two-storey building.

An alarm was raised and the firefighters were summoned. However, upon their arrival, most of the tenders were without water and had to return to be filled.

By the time they returned to the building was already flattened and the firefighters’ only other option was to contain the blaze - all valiant efforts as the inferno quickly spread to several other nearby buildings and destroyed two others.

According to one of the businessmen, he and his workers managed to save a few items but had to cut short their efforts after the heat became too intense.

The businessmen, who were visibly shaken, said they are not in a position to put any figure to their losses but noted it is close to billions as they began stocking up for the December holidays.

One businessman said he had already closed his operations for the day and went home when he received the tragic news.

“I just reached home and was talking with my family when the phone rang, someone told me that there is fire on Regent Street right next to your store, I thought it was nothing major but said let me go down and see what happened. When I got here I saw my business on fire, all that I have worked for went up in flames,” he said.

While there has not been any official statement on the cause of the fire, a senior firefighter said it is believed to be electrical based on the explanation they were given.

“We were told that there was a power outage, and according to our investigations the fire started just after the power was restored, so initial determinations would suggest it was electrical,” the fireman said.

Guyana over the past months had been marred with fires, which have left hundreds of persons homeless.

Figures from the Guyana Fire Service for this year indicate there have been 1,143 fire calls to the Fire Service, of which 109 were buildings that were completely destroyed and 38 severely damaged, leaving 218 persons homeless and 9 dead.

A UN rescue team confirmed there were no survivors among the 11 crew and military personnel on the plane, a Casa-212, when it went down near the town of Fonds-Verrettes, near the border with the Dominican Republic.

The dead were Uruguayans and Jordanians, UN spokeswoman Vannina Maestracci said.

The cause of the crash was unknown.

“The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti announces with sadness that a MINUSTAH plane, carrying 11 passengers, including the crew, crashed southeast of the commune of Ganthier,” the United Nations said in a statement.

“The Casa 212 aircraft was making a reconnaissance flight at the time of the accident before hitting a mountainside.”

The UN peacekeeping force has been in Haiti since 2004. It consists of some 9,000 troops and police.

Local officials said the plane went down in a remote area near the village of Pays-Pourri in the district of Ganthier, a farming region area east of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

“It’s in a very inaccessible area, about six hours on foot from Ganthier,” Ralph Lapointe, the mayor of Ganthier, told Reuters by telephone.

“It happened shortly before noon. I saw several UN helicopters flying toward the area,” he said. “It seems that they have already recovered the bodies.”