Moontown

Muriel Wiltord, director Americas for the Martinique Promotion Bureau/CMT USA, commented on the survey results, stating: “Caribbean Travel + Life readers are certainly among the most knowledgeable when it comes to the best that our region has to offer, so it’s especially gratifying to be recognized by them in this way.”

Martinique boasts a vibrant and eclectic culinary scene with local and international chefs elevating gastronomy to an art form. Traditional French cuisine is widely available throughout the island and rivals that found in Paris, but what really sets Martinique apart is its Creole flair. A sublime blend of African, Indian, European and Caribbean flavors, Martinique’s Creole culinary creations keep visitors coming back again and again.

The Caribbean Travel + Life honour is the second such recognition of Martinique’s culinary wonders in as many years. In November 2008 Caribbean World Magazine named Martinique “Best Gourmet Island of the Year.”

The challenge came from Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade,  Kenneth Baugh, when he met with a group of 25 students from the University of the West Indies (UWI), the University of Technology (UTech) and Northern Caribbean University (NCU), who travelled to Barbados, Grenada and other countries in the region on an official CSME observer mission, at his office on Friday.

Baugh challenged them to treat the mission as a first step towards building a career in the CSME. He said that there were numerous opportunities to take advantage of, and that the challenges were slowly being overcome.

“I’ve challenged the students to look beyond CARICOM and at other areas, because we want to develop a larger market than CARICOM. We need to look at Latin, Central and South America, some 400-500 million people with a much larger economy. The United States is a $13.3 trillion market and Europe is another $18 trillion. We have to look to penetrate those markets to get our goods and services there,” he told JIS News after the meeting.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kenneth Baugh (left), Communications Specialist, CARICOM Secretariat, CSME Unit, Salas Hamilton (centre) and representative of the European Commission (EC) to Jamaica, Helen Jenkinson (right) seem pleased with the report received from a 25-student Jamaican contingent from the University of the West Indies (UWI), the University of Technology (UTech) and Northern Caribbean (NCU), who travelled to Barbados, Grenada and other regional countries on an official CSME observer mission.

The students’ mission, funded by the European Commission under the theme “Students Engaging the CSME through Field Promotion”, is part of an evaluation process to determine and understand how the CSME is viewed by civil society across the region, as well as to identify opportunities and challenges of the CSME.

A formal report is submitted at the end of the mission. Students from other countries in the region also participated in the exercise, but the Jamaicans were the first to complete theirs and submit a report.

“The report is a very good report from what I’ve seen. They found that in their visits to these islands they overcame the barrier of ignorance that existed, and they pointed to issues, such as transportation, which were fundamental challenges to the progress to be made in CARICOM,” Baugh told JIS News.

Communications Specialist, CARICOM Secretariat, CSME Unit, Salas Hamilton, who received the report, said he was pleased with the outcome of the experiment, which represents a positive turning point for the CSME’s public education programme.

“To actually take tertiary level students through the CSME, let them do a diagnosis of the laws, regimes and the policies, see what is happening in terms of the movement of goods and capital, how Jamaicans can provide services, what is Grenada doing to facilitate that and when it takes two days to travel that is a critical issue. that you cannot learn in a classroom setting,” he pointed out.

Head of Section of the delegation of the European Commission (EC) to Jamaica, Helen Jenkinson, explained that the EC was a strong financial and moral supporter of regional integration.

The EC she said has an on-going programme, worth 41 million Euros, to support regional integration and trade. She noted that mobilizing students on a mission to the CSME was an excellent avenue to broaden understanding about the CSME, hence the EC’s financial support.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (BGIS) — The input of the religious community is “missing from the strategy for using this economic crisis as the occasion for a restructuring of society”.

Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson (FP)

This view was expressed by Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson on Sunday as he addressed the 14th anniversary convention of Mount Zion’s Missions International Inc., at its temple in Rock Dundo, St James.

Thompson pointed out that he had repeatedly “made the call for all stakeholders in the wholesome and sustainable development of Barbados to join Team Barbados and to pull together”. However, he lamented that, to date, the response had not been as enthusiastic as he would have liked.

“Today, I therefore make a renewed appeal to faith-based organisations to come forward and help us to chart the way ahead. At one level, the facility for doing so is the new Constituency Councils, which have been established to empower communities,” he noted.

The Prime Minister added that at another level, there was Team Barbados, where the highest representatives of stakeholder sectors and institutions met and collaborated in solving problems.

He also endorsed the “strident methods” which Mount Zion had used to draw attention to the “spiritual and moral decay that is taking place in this once God-fearing nation”. He warned that in times of crisis, societies either disintegrated or pulled together.

“There is overwhelming evidence that, if left to chance, certain districts in Barbados will fall apart into warring factions that survive from criminal activity. You know these neighbourhoods well because they are the targets of your outreach work,” Thompson observed.

He said, however, that he believed that Barbados could “ride out this temporary setback by digging into its reserves, drawing on its culture of resilience and, above all, by putting God first”.

The Prime Minister commended Rev. Dr Lucille Baird for dealing with a range of subjects which many of her counterparts were “afraid to touch”. He also noted that she had tried to meet not only the spiritual, but also the social, economic and other human needs of her audiences.

“I congratulate you and the entire management and membership of Mount Zion Mission for putting Barbados on the map and showing once again what this little giant of a nation can do,” Thompson said.

By Matt Maura

NASSAU, The Bahamas (BIS) – The Bahamas government has spent $16 million in unemployment benefits to displaced Bahamian workers over the past six months, Minister of National Security, O A T ‘Tommy’ Turnquest confirmed.

Addressing the two-day Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Social Security Meeting in New Providence, on October 22, Turnquest said the payment, made possible through the Unemployment Benefit by the National Insurance Board, was part of Government’s “decisive action” to bring relief to Bahamians during the current world economic situation.

The money was paid out to 12,000 unemployed Bahamians.

“This is money that, from all indications, has been well spent,” Turnquest said. “It has helped to compensate for loss of wages and has contributed to our efforts to sustain our economy.”

The current world economic situation has “pointed out shortcomings” and “a lack of flexibility” in many of the regional social security schemes and has forced regional governments to re-examine those systems, he said.

The current world recession has also forced, particularly regional governments, to re-examine their social security systems now and in the way forward, he said.

Social security systems have also been taxed by a decrease in the contribution base, the increasing demands for benefit payments to offset the financial challenges of the current economic environment, and the “strident calls” facing the region to increase benefits and expand coverage as “real dollar values are declining,” the Minister said.

“Economic trends in our countries and our region have not been encouraging in recent years, as globalization and trade liberalization continue to bring about significant changes in the global economy,” Turnquest said.

“Many of our countries have struggled, and continue to struggle, particularly over the past year, with negative or declining economic growth, resulting in consequential changes in all facets of national life, particularly in the economic and social areas. We know that the current economic crisis has compounded the situation for all of our countries,” Turnquest added.

In these circumstances, he added, the need for, and value of, social security systems have come into sharp focus even as financial protection through social security has gained in acceptance and importance worldwide.

“In the face of the current crisis, the government of The Bahamas has acted decisively and quickly in many areas,” Turnquest said.

British Airways jet at St Kitts Robert L Bradshaw International Airport (Photo by Erasmus Williams)

With increased frequency to St Kitts, Grenada, Barbados and Bermuda scheduled for next summer and new flights from Gatwick to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic and Montego Bay in Jamaica will offer an extra 2,000 seats a week to the Caribbean from Gatwick.

BA will operate a total 55 flights a week from London to the Caribbean, with 11 destinations served from Gatwick and three from Heathrow.

British Airways, which began flying into St Kitts’ Robert L Bradshaw International Airport in January will begin a second scheduled flight in march 2010.

The airline claims to now provide more seats to the Caribbean from the United Kingdom than any other carrier. All the long haul flights are operated with Boeing 777 aircraft.