Moontown

According to Jose Fonseca, a senior policy maker with the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Development (CTA), while the Caribbean continues to stress the importance of food security, the region faces challenges to get investment in the agriculture sector. To this end he said while the CTA, which is currently holding its annual seminar in Belgium, was not a donor agency, it was collaborating with organisations in the Caribbean to provide support for the agriculture sector in specific areas.

He revealed that the CTA was working with the Caribbean in the areas of innovation and communication. In the former, the agency was providing technical assistance to guide producers on how to add value to primary agriculture production in food and meat. In the latter the assistance related to the development of strategies for communicating with the public on agriculture issues as well as devising mechanisms for engaging journalists to make them interested in covering the agriculture sector.

The CTA’s work in the Caribbean is in collaboration with the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), the Caribbean Farmers Association (CaFAN) and the Inter American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). The CARICOM Secretariat, through CARDI is also involved in this collaboration.

Fonseca said this collaboration in the Caribbean was of utmost importance as the issues facing the agriculture sector needed to be widely understood as Caribbean governments sought to implement policies and programmes to ensure food security for their people.

“The CTA is not a donor agency but the technical assistance and limited financial support that we provide to countries such as those in the Caribbean are very important to the wider agriculture agenda,” he said.

The bulk of CTA’s work in the Caribbean is being done with CARDI, whose Executive Director, Arlington Chesney said the CARDI-CTA relationship was now moving in a new direction. He informed that the cornerstone of this new direction was the CARDI-CTA Technical Cooperation arrangement, which was designed to develop and use information and communication technology towards developing a sustainable regional agriculture sector.

(C/bean Net News)

St Kitts and Nevis’ Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Delano bart QC. (United Nations Photo)

This was reaffirmed by St Kitts and Nevis’ Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Delano Bart, QC.

Addressing the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) of the 64th United Nations General Assembly on behalf of the CARIOCOM Member States, Bart noted the recently adopted General Assembly resolution 63/311 on system wide coherence, strengthening of the governance of operational activities for development should focus on enhancing existing intergovernmental bodies.

“CARICOM underscored the importance of ensuring the provision of adequate funding for operational activities for development on a timely and predictable basis, and in line with the national needs and priorities of developing countries,” said Bart.

He said that CARICOM members were of the view that the need for United Nations development activities in the sub region had increased significantly, given the myriad of development challenges faced by those countries, particularly in the areas of environmental sustainability, adapting to climate change, food security, combating non-communicable diseases, crime prevention and combating drug trafficking and other international crimes.

Bart further stated that the need for the United Nations development assistance had been made further acute, as a result of the impact of the current economic and financial crisis. In comparison to other developing countries and sub-regions, CARICOM member States received a very small percentage of overall official development assistance.

For the most part, such assistance, as a source of financing for development, was not available to the members. Prior to the onset of the economic and financial crisis, the options for the sub-region for sourcing financing for development were limited primarily to foreign direct investment and bilateral and multilateral lending agencies. With the onset of the crisis, the limited sources available to the sub-region had all but dried up.

He noted that the United Nations presence had been complementary and supportive of CARICOM Government’s development initiatives and played a fundamental role, given the existence of structural weaknesses that impeded full execution of development projects in cases where the States’ own means of implementation were weak.

In that regard, he stated that the maintenance of a significant field presence for the United Nations development system in the sub-region was essential. CARICOM was, therefore, quite concerned by the reduction of resources to the sub-region at both the programmatic and administrative levels. The United Nations development system should recognize that such actions could jeopardize the modest human development gains that had been made.

The Committee met to conclude its debate on macroeconomic policy questions and begin its consideration of operational activities for development of the United Nations system and South-South cooperation for development.

Before the Committee was the Secretary-General’s report entitled comprehensive statistical analysiof the financing of operational activities for development of the United Nations system for 2007.

The analysis finds that the total value of contributions received by the United Nations system in 2007 for operational activities amounted to $19.1 billion, an 11 percent increase in nominal terms, and a 2.4 percent real term increase over 2006 contributions. System expenditures, meanwhile, amounted to $17.3 billion in 2007, according to the report.

While the Ministry and the IMF officials have agreed in principle on the parameters of the Fiscal Consolidation Programme, there still needs to be some fine tuning so that the targets agreed upon between the Government and the Fund are manageable and attainable.

The IMF team will therefore return to Antigua in the coming weeks to conclude the arrangements. In the interim, Ministry of Finance officials will meet with the private sector, trade unions and other stakeholders to discuss the Fiscal Consolidation Programme.

During the week the five-member IMF team, accompanied by representatives from the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) held detailed discussions with Ministry of Finance officials and representatives of statutory bodies.

The discussions focused on economic developments in Antigua and Barbuda and on the elements of the Fiscal Consolidation Programme.

The programme includes measures that will increase revenue, reduce expenditure and improve Antigua and Barbuda’s debt position. On the expenditure side, the measures included in the Fiscal Consolidation Plan include:

1. Reducing expenditure on wages and salaries by 20 percent by 2012;
   1. Reducing the level of overtime to no more than $5 million;
   2. Continuing to reduce the size of the public sector through a programme of attrition over the next 5-7 years;
2. Outsourcing some of the services Government currently provides through a competitive bidding process. These include
   1. Garbage collection
   2. Janitorial services
   3. Security
   4. School meals
3. Rationalising the number of ministries and departments to reduce recurrent costs including rent, and expenditure on goods and services. This will be done as a part of a wider public sector transformation programme which is to be spearheaded by a Public Sector Transformation Advisory Committee.
4. Reducing the level of transfers by adopting a more targeted approach to social programmes to protect the most vulnerable and by streamlining the number of overseas offices that depend on Government subventions to fund their operations. The intent is to save between $15 and $30 million per year over the short to medium term.

On the revenue side, the Government will focus on streamlining the current tax structure to ensure that the Government can collect revenue amounting to between 25 and 27 percent of GDP. A review of the revenue agencies has shown that there are significant leakages in collections resulting from poor revenue administration. The specific measures will include:

1. Reducing the number of items in the basket of zero-rated goods under the ABST. This tax is underperforming, partly because of low compliance and because of the high level of exemptions. Replacing the customs service tax with a measure that will ensure Antigua and Barbuda complies with World Trade Organisation obligations.
2. Implementing an excise tax on items such as alcohol, tobacco and ammunition.
3. Increasing the non-citizen land holding license from 5 percent to 10 percent.
4. Increasing the embarkation tax from $35 to $50 for Antiguan and Caricom nationals (all exempt persons remain the same) and US$25 for extra regional passengers.
5. Applying the passenger facility charge to in transit passengers.

The IMF delegation, ECCB and CDB officials agreed with Ministry officials that while these fiscal measures are expected to generate major improvements in the fiscal balances, they cannot by themselves secure the fiscal and debt sustainability that underpin strong and sustained economic growth. They must be accompanied by measures to address the more than 1.5 billion in arrears that form part of the public debt stock. Debt restructuring will be critical to restore sustainability. To secure the assistance of development agencies and partners, as well as creditors, it is necessary for Antigua and Barbuda to demonstrate commitment to fiscal consolidation.

In addition to laying the foundation for pursuing negotiations with the IMF for a Stand-by Arrangement, the past week’s exercise has positioned the Government to finalize arrangements with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to access US$30 million through a two-year Policy Based Loan. In the coming week, the Government will meet with representatives from the World Bank to discuss how the Bank may assist Antigua and Barbuda with its public sector transformation programme and with developing appropriate social protection mechanisms.

(C/bean Net News)

Attorney General Charles Ramson told reporters ahead of the sitting of the National Assembly that Guyana will honor its obligation as decided by the court.

“It’s a step in the process and this attorney- general always does the legal thing, the court order will be observed,” Ramson said briefly

His remarks came less than a day after the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) denied Guyana’s request for more time to reinstitute the CET on extra-regional cement imports.

Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL) and its subsidiary TCL Guyana Inc (TGI) had moved to the CCJ against Guyana for not imposing the tariff on local importers.

The court on August 20 ruled that this country has 28 days to reimpose the CET.

It also ruled that Guyana breached provisions in the e Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas by failing to implement and maintain the CET since October 2006.

But the Jagdeo-led government has been arguing that reinstituting CET at this time would affect the country’s macroeconomic stability and it needed to maintain the status quo until year-end.

Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon at a media conference on Thursday said Guyana’s options on the matter were dwindling. However, he maintained that TCL was solely to blame for the state of affairs.

“We’re not in the business of buying and selling cement, we’re in the business of development, and housing development and housing construction is a very important part. The billions that have been spent on preparation of land, building infrastructure, doing squatter settlement rehabilitation – it leads to housing construction, and this bottleneck that has been created by TCL — studiously denied of course by TCL — is the issue here,” Luncheon said.

He noted that Guyana’s move to ease the tax was all in the national interest to ensure that cement was “predictably available” and “competitively priced”.

The cabinet secretary said the Council for Trade and Economic Development’s (COTED) failure to address Guyana’s application for a waiver meant that “one by one our options are being closed off.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Maxine McClean, and France’s non-residential Ambassador to Barbados, Michel Trinquier, signing the agreement.

The Agreement delimits the overlap of the 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zones of Barbados and France (in respect of Martinique and Guadeloupe) and, furthermore, provides for the delimitation of the potential overlap between the parties in the maritime space beyond 200 nautical miles, commonly referred to as the extended continental shelf. Both Barbados and France have made submissions to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) with respect to the delineation of the outer limits of their respective continental shelves and are cooperating in that regard.

The signing of this Agreement represents the culmination of three rounds of formal negotiations held between May 2006 and November 2007. The fact that Barbados and France were able to reach such speedy agreement bears testimony to the atmosphere of cordiality and mutual respect within which the negotiations were conducted.

In remarks following the signing ceremony, both Minister McClean and Ambassador Trinquier recalled the traditionally warm and cooperative relations that exist between Barbados and France and expressed deep satisfaction at the significant milestone recorded in the relationship through the conclusion and signature of the maritime delimitation treaty.

McClean hailed the Agreement as a tribute to what can be achieved when states approach potentially challenging issues in a spirit of genuine partnership and cooperation.

Barbados and France established diplomatic ties in May 1968.

Camille Bethel cbethel@trinidadexpress.com

‘weight a risk factor’: Albert Persad, executive medical director of the South West Regional Health Authority, centre, during yesterday’s news conference at the authority’s administrative office on Lewis Street, San Fernando. Looking on is Michael Harris, left, chief executive officer of the SWRHA; and Dr Stephen Ramroop, medical director of the San Fernando General Hospital. -Photo: KRISHNA MAHARAJ

The Health Ministry yesterday confirmed four deaths from the Influenza A/H1N1 virus. The victims all had a common link-morbid obesity.

The victims-three men and one woman-died in the Intensive Care Unit of the San Fernando General Hospital this week. Another man also died at the facility, but from seasonal flu.

Yesterday, executive medical director of the hospital Dr Albert Persad said the international literature confirms that people who are excessively overweight suffer more severely from the virus. “So that it is now a very strong contender as a risk factor for people with H1N1 illness to progress to a very severe level.”

Vishraj Maharaj, 30, one of the confirmed “swine flu” victims who died on Tuesday, was overweight, but in otherwise good health.

Persad said at any stage, the illness can progress to a critical level.

“We have now only started to see the severe forms of the illness… we are only one or two weeks into this and… it is always difficult to tell the extent to which the virus will affect people in the community and how many people will continue into the moderate or severe stage.”

The dead are all believed to be from a relatively small area of Trinidad and epidemiologists are trying to find out if the victims made contact.

Persad said all the relatives of those who died or who tested positive for the virus must also be tested.

So far, at least 250 people have been tested in South for the “swine flu” virus, most of whom have come back negative. But there were people throughout the country with H1N1 at a mild level, he said.

Hospital medical director Dr Stephen Ramroop said the first two patients to die the hospital went in on Monday, and their positive tests were confirmed by the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre.

Julien Neaves

ADDRESSING ISSUE: Rennie Dumas

CHINA-BASED firm, Beijing Liujing Construction Company (TT) Ltd, says its disgruntled workers who staged a protest four days ago are claiming a performance deposit which they forfeited.

In a release yesterday, the company said it had paid all salaries due to these workers and is now making arrangements for their travel back to China at the cost of TT$17,000 per person.

About 100 Chinese nationals employed with the company gathered on the north-bound lane of the Uriah Butler Highway on Tuesday, saying they had not been paid in two months and refused to return to work at the Five Rivers Secondary School compound in Arouca or where they were being housed in Cunupia.

The protests also stalled work at the site of the Aranjuez Government Secondary.

Yesterday, the company said the key area of dispute with its ex-employees is payment of a performance deposit, a sum that the company is contractually obliged to pay to workers on the successful completion of a contract.

“In the case of the recently terminated workers, the deposit which is being claimed by the workers, was forfeited when the workers elected to terminate their contracts before completion of the projects on which they were hired to work,” the company said.

The company said the workers were contracted in China upon agreed terms for a guaranteed period of a minimum of 18 months employment, but the disputed deposit fee is not linked to that period but to the life of the project on which they were hired to work.

“In the case of the current dispute over the deposit fee, the company has been advised that the workers who have opted to terminate their contract after the minimum period of guaranteed employment, but before completion of the project, are in breach of contract and must therefore forfeit the right to this payment.”

The company also pointed out that the workers enjoyed wages of TT$24 an hour “which was attractive and highly competitive with what is paid in China”.

On concerns about alleged unsanitary living conditions in Cunupia, the company said: “The conditions we see being portrayed in the media are not recognisable to us as conditions provided for our employees.”

Inspectors of the Occupational Safety and Health Agency visited the site on Thursday and reported that they used “moral suasion” to have remedial measures taken regarding the general hygiene of the domestic facility. The company expressed its commitment to “working towards an expeditious resolution of this matter”.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labour said yesterday that the OSH inspectors had discovered hygiene issues at the domestic facility in Chaguanas where many of the workers were staying during a site visit yesterday.

The inspectors, however, were unable to take any action because section 51(1) of the OSH Act excludes premises occupied for residential purposes only from the definition of “Industrial Establishment”.

“Accordingly, since these quarters are removed from the work site, they do not fall within the OSH Act. In discussions with a company representative, moral suasion was used to have remedial measures taken with regard to the general hygiene at this domestic facility,” the Labour Ministry said in a release.

It stated that the work place and health conditions at the Aranjuez and Five Rivers Junior Secondary project sites “were found to be satisfactory”, with only minor irregularities at the latter site.

Labour Minister Rennie Dumas met with executives from the company and the Chinese Embassy yesterday, and subsequently appointed two top Government officials to “work with” them to bring the matter to an end as quickly and as amicably as possible.

MAGNIFICENT: Trinidad and Tobago’s Kieron Pollard shouts in jubilation after his blazing innings of 53 off 18 balls took his team to a four-wicket victory over New South Wales in yesterday’s Super Eight Champions League Twenty20 encounter at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad, India.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning, Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner and Sports Minister Gary Hunt yesterday congratulated the Trinidad and Tobago cricket team on their third consecutive victory at the Champions League T20 tournament in India.

In a release issued shortly after the victory, Manning said: “I am overjoyed at the victory of these young men in this tournament. It is always heartening when citizens of our country go abroad and make us proud by doing their best. The spirit which they have shown is indicative of the passion and drive that exists in all of us, we must embrace it.”

Manning added: “On behalf of the Government and the people of Trinidad and Tobago, we urge them to continue to play with heart and determination and we wish them every success as they continue towards victory.”

Warner, in a release, expressed his sincerest congratulations to the team on his behalf, on behalf of his Chaguanas West constituency and the rest of Trinidad and Tobago, on its latest triumph against the New South Wales Blues.

He said Kieron Pollard’s majestic 54 runs in 18 balls would stand tall as one of the fastest half centuries in this version of the game, ensuring the secured victory with finesse and style. Warner said Daren Ganga’s astute leadership also continues to impress.

“The performances to date have inspired cricketing legends Sunil Gavaskar and Greg Chappel to describe it as ‘T&T’s dream run’. Trinidad and Tobago now share in this dream,” Warner said.

“Some may have thought that your first round victory over Somerset and your ousting of the champions Deccan Chargers could not be bettered, but you have stepped up to the crease in grandiose splendour,” he said.

Warner reminded them that they had already made their countrymen proud by their achievement thus far and that they had already won the hearts of cricket fan around the world, who remain in awe of the abundance of talent that resides in and originates from their twin islands.

“For this pride and glory, your country owes you a debt that is unfathomable. You have inspired the youth of the country as a whole. As you face your next challenge, we have no doubt that you would continue your winning streak and succeed to the semi-final round. Play for your team, the nation and the region. Your country and fans are cheering for you,” Warner stated.

Hunt, also in a release, said, “The players have demonstrated confidence in their approach to the game and their victories in these consecutive one-day matches are indeed a true demonstration of their abilities, both individually and collectively.”