Moontown

PARAMARIBO, Suriname – During their inter-sessional meeting next month in Dominica, CARICOM Heads of States are expected to take a decision regarding suspension of the common external tariff (CET) on cement, Suriname’s minister of Trade and Industry said in a prepared statement Friday.

Trade Minister Clifford Marica, who is the chairman of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) disclosed that Suriname and several other CARICOM member states applied for suspension of the CET to import cement from outside the region.

However, COTED, during its special meeting earlier this month in Guyana, dismissed the applications since Trinidad Cement Ltd. (TCL) has indicated that the company could guarantee to meet the demands of cement in the region.

According to Marica the interested member states filed a protest against the dismissal since during the past several years a shortage of cement has been created in order to increase the price of the product.

After ample deliberations during the COTED meeting in Guyana, the matter remained unsolved.

Marica disclosed that three options to resolve the issue were tabled: taking cement from the suspension list; lowering common external tariff; allowing CARICOM countries to import 15 percent of the demand from outside the region.

COTED could take a decision since in order to do so, amendments should be made to the Treaty of Chaguaramas. Only the CARICOM Heads have the authority to make such changes.

Therefore, it has been decided, said Marica, that the COTED would make the necessary preparations and present this issue to the Heads of Government for a resolution during their meeting in March.

For the past three years Suriname has imported cement from outside the Caribbean, after receiving a CET waiver from CARICOM. However, this waiver expired in November 2009.

While the decision to suspend the CET was procedurally wrong, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in August 2009 ruled in favour of CARICOM. The CCJ ruled that there were procedural flaws in the decision of CARICOM’s secretary-general Edwin Carrington to authorize suspension by Jamaica in September 2008.

In November 2008, it was COTED which had authorized suspension of CET on cement for one year for seven member states.

Carrington testified before the court that, after receiving Jamaica’s request for suspension, he sent out inquiries to member countries to establish whether they could supply cement. The Trinidad and Tobago government replied with a “no objection” to the suspension.

According to the CCJ Carrington was wrong to have accepted a “no objection” reply from Trinidad as sufficient for an approval of Jamaica’s request.

Regarding COTED’s decision the CCJ ruled that it had found no basis for TCL’s claim that that decision was ultra vires. However, CARICOM was ordered to pay half of TCL’s legal costs. (Caribnet)

Minister of Finance and Public Service, Audley Shaw, signed on behalf of the Jamaican Government, while IDB president, Luis Alberto Moreno, signed on behalf of the bank.

Minister of Finance and the Public Service,  Audley Shaw (left), and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) President, Luis Alberto Moreno, signing the US$45 million loan agreement to support the educational sector reform programme. Looking on is Jamaica’s Ambassador to the United States, Anthony Johnson. JIS photo

Shaw explained that the objective of the loan is to support the education transformation process, including both institutional and policy changes deemed necessary to improve the quality of services provided, as well as increase the performance efficiency and accountability of the Jamaican educational system.

He also pointed out that US$15 million of the amount will be used to provide some 2,000 additional classroom spaces, which are critically needed.

He said that Jamaica welcomed the assistance from the IDB, as it will go a long way in supporting the Government’s efforts to reform the education sector.

Moreno responded that the IDB was pleased to support and finance the Government’s education sector reform project.

He commended the Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, on his steadfastness in addressing a number of fiscal challenges which, he said, will help the country achieve its long-term development goals.

Accompanying Shaw at the signing were Jamaica’s Ambassador to the United States, Anthony Johnson; Governor of the Bank of Jamaica, Brian Wynter; and Financial Secretary, Dr Wesley Hughes.

Also present was the IDB’s Executive Director for the region, Winston Cox, and Alternative Executive Director, Ambassador Richard Bernal.

“This loan will support the Government’s comprehensive reform programme, to address fiscal and debt sustainability,” Shaw explained, at the signing ceremony,at the World Bank’s headquarters.

Minister of Finance and the Public Service,  Audley Shaw, being congratulated by World Bank Director for the Caribbean,Yvonne Tisikata, after signing a US$200 million loan package at the Bank’s headquarters in Washington, DC on February. JIS photo

The initiative is a co-ordinated effort by multi-lateral development banks and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help the Jamaican government sustain its long-term development agenda.

Shaw pointed out that the loan will assist in increasing the efficiency of the public financial management and budgetary process, as well as increase tax revenues through improved tax administration.

“The government of Jamaica is deeply appreciative to the World Bank for its support for the country’s reform programme, together with support from other international development partners,” the Minister said.

“We are implementing a comprehensive reform programme, to put the country back on a sustainable path and achieve significant growth over the medium term,” he added.

Signing on behalf of the World Bank, Director for the Caribbean region,Yvonne Tisikata, said that despite the severe impact of the global crisis, Jamaica remains committed to a long-term reform agenda, and has taken critical measures to advance key public sector reforms.

“The fiscal responsibility framework, the comprehensive debt exchange, the public bodies rationalisation plan and the tax administration reform, are far-reaching and, if fully implemented, will generate large benefits for the Jamaican people,” she stated. The loan is repayable over 30 years.

Accompanying Shaw at the signing were Jamaica’s Ambassador to the United States, Anthony Johnson; Governor of the Bank of Jamaica,Brian Wynter; and the Financial Secretary, Dr Wesley Hughes. (Caribnet)

Wyclef Jean. AFP PHOTO

Jean, a founding member of the Fugees, was a leading celebrity campaigner for Haiti disaster relief after January’s devastating earthquake in the poverty-stricken Caribbean nation.

Jean, who started the evening singing with Haitian musicians and Mexican-born guitarist Carlos Santana, dedicated his award to “all of those people you’all don’t see working on the ground in Haiti and in America.”  (Caribnet)

One of the two American missionaries still being held in Haiti, Laura Silsby. AFP PHOTO

Investigative judge Bernard Sainvil said that before freeing Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter he wanted witnesses that he had already examined in the Dominican Republic to give their testimony in Haiti.

“The Americans will have to stay in jail while I hear those people … the hearings will take place Monday and Tuesday, and they won’t be released before I finish,” Sainvil told Reuters.

“The people I met in the Dominican Republic all confirmed statements made previously … by the Americans. The statements played in their favor,” he added.

Sainvil said on Tuesday that Silsby and Coulter could be released this week.

They were among 10 Americans arrested on Jan. 29 on charges that they tried to take 33 Haitian children out of the country without proper documentation after the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake.

Eight were released last week, but Silsby, the group leader, and Coulter, her assistant, were held in detention for further questioning.

They have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying they only wanted to help orphans left destitute by the quake.

But they had no Haitian identity or exit papers for the children. Many of the children had living parents who acknowledged turning them over to the missionaries in the belief they would have better care in the hands of the Americans.

Haitian President Rene Preval estimates the magnitude 7 earthquake killed about 300,000 people. (Caribnet)

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. AFP PHOTO

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, was expected to leave the country later in the day, said David Johnson, a US defence spokesman in Haiti.

“It’s a chance for him to come out and get his boots on the ground and visit with his troops,” said Johnson, who could not give details on Mullen’s schedule.

“He’ll also get a brief on … where we are right now and maybe what it looks like down the road.”

It is Mullen’s first visit to the Caribbean country since the quake.

The United States has reduced its troop numbers in and off the coast of Haiti by about half from more than 20,000 just after the catastrophe.

US officials have said they expect to further reduce numbers as aid operations gather pace.

More than 200,000 people were killed in the January 12 earthquake, which also left some 1.2 million people homeless. (Caribnet)

Residents living in the Housing Development Corporation’s (HDC) homes at Carlton Lane, San Fernando, are protesting a sewer leak which has been causing a big stink for more than a year.

Pauline Hercules, a mother of five, said the sewer line, which broke in March 2009, is not only a health hazard for her children and herself, but has been costing her financially.

’I have had to spend so much money on medication because of this. Before Carnival, I bought medication for a throat problem and then again on Ash Wednesday, I had to go to the health centre because my tonsils was swollen.’

She said her sister, who has six children, had made complaints to the HDC and the City Corporation, but nothing has been done to rectify the problem.

’The people from HDC came last week, but they said they had no protective gear to fix the problem so they would have to come back, but no one has returned.’

She said her children are no longer allowed to play in the yard and complain of a stinging sensation whenever they bathe.

’We have even lost pets because of this, because the dogs drink the sewage water and end up dying. This is really horrible. When I have to take a rest during the day, I have to go under my dinning room table with a pillow and sleep,’ she said. -CB (Trinidad Express)