Moontown

NEW YORK, USA (Bloomberg) — After a massive earthquake rocked Haiti in January, concert pianist Lang Lang sent a text message to Wyclef Jean asking if the singer’s friends and relatives in the Caribbean country were safe.

Wyclef Jean

The Chinese superstar and the Haitian-born hip-hop artist who rose to fame with the Fugees had met a month earlier in Oslo at a concert honoring US President Barack Obama for winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

“After the Haiti earthquake, Wyclef told me that some of his friends are dead,” Lang Lang, 27, said last week on the phone from Germany, where he was performing. “It was very emotional for us and for the Chinese people because China had an extremely large earthquake two years ago.”

On Sunday they will reunite at New York’s Carnegie Hall to raise money for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. Organizers of the event, partly sponsored by luxury goods maker Montblanc North America LLC, say proceeds will benefit Haiti’s children.

Lang Lang will perform with Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, an ensemble comprising some of the world’s finest classical musicians who are 26 or younger. Christoph Eschenbach, who conducted Lang Lang’s jaw-dropping Ravinia Festival debut in 1999, will direct the program of works by Mozart, Prokofiev and Beethoven.

Then Jean, 37, will come onstage with Lang Lang to reprise the duet of Jean’s “Gunpowder” that they performed in Oslo. The song begins with a tragic narrative about the killing of a brother:

I asked my mother why do you cry?

She said your brother, he just died

Well I told him not to go outside

He said he had to fight for his country’s rights

Lang Lang, known for blazing through Tchaikovsky, said his collaboration with a hip-hop singer wouldn’t surprise fans who know his musical tastes. The 3,000 songs on his Sony digital music player include hits by Jay-Z, Usher, Eminem and Kanye West, as well as Jean.

“I always enjoy listening to hip hop and to Wyclef, and I really respect him even though we’re walking in two different musical worlds,” he said. “I remember when we were backstage in Oslo, he showed me the chords on the guitar for the song. He’s a great composer.”

Charity work has been a part of Lang Lang’s frenetic schedule since he became an international goodwill ambassador to UNICEF in 2004. In 2008, he auctioned the red Steinway piano he’d used for a Central Park concert and donated the proceeds to the American Red Cross China Earthquake fund. That year, he also launched the Lang Lang International Music Foundation Inc., which gives scholarships to young music students.

Lang Lang will appear tomorrow at the Apple Store on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where he’ll perform Chopin’s “Polonaise in A Flat major, Opus 53.” The piece was released this week on iTunes, and the pianist will donate the proceeds to UNICEF.

“Haiti confirmed that it’s important for musicians who are lucky to support children who aren’t so lucky,” he said. (Caribnet)

(left to right): Manuel Castro Inocencio, Asociación de Guías de Turismo de la República Dominicana (AGTRD); Tirso Cabral, President of AGTRD; Luis Felipe Aquino, President of Confederación de Organizaciones Turísticas de América Latina (COTAL); José Mella, President of Dominican Travel Agents and Tourism Association (ADAVIT); and Adolfo López, Executive Director for the Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism (CAST)

As a first joint project, it provides the potential for an initiative to raise awareness of the use of regulations to apply in visits to areas declared as world heritage or protected and/or national parks and protection standards. To achieve this goal, operators as well as tour guides in particular will be trained to bring home to tourists:

The importance of conservation ecology and the need for all of our participation in this process and how to get involved in the preservation of the environment.

Provide information to tourists about the evolution that led to the formation of the natural wealth of the visited areas.

Communicate to the visitor the participation that natural resources have in the environment and thus, in our lives.

There will also be an awareness campaign to allow man to get closer to nature and to his history and culture, leading to greater awareness of natural wealth and the importance of conservation through educational programs that will enable man to contribute to the care of these products by:

Implementing courses and workshops for training and education relating to the subject matter.

Establishing institutional slogans related to the conservation and protection of natural, historical and cultural resources.

Conducting a promotional information campaign on the importance of the resources already mentioned, in print, CD, participation in radio and television, articles in newspapers and participation in commercial displays.

Realization of projects with specific contributions which would bear the name of each sponsoring company to help in the recovery of environmental, historic and cultural areas.

The agreement was signed by Sir Royston O. Hopkin, KCMG, Chairman of CAST; and Luis Felipe Aquino, President of COTAL. Actively involved in assisting the process were José Mella, President of Dominican Travel Agents and Tourism Association (ADAVIT), and Tirso Cabral, President of Asociación de Guías de Turismo de la República Dominicana (AGTRD).

La Confederación de Organizaciones Turísticas de América Latina

The Confederación de Organizaciones Turísticas de América Latina (COTAL) is a confederation of 21 associations of travel agents from several countries in Latin America. It represents travel agents of Latin America responsible for selling 80% of airfares for the region and about 14,000 million dollars a year on travel services. Besides the associations, travel agencies are also COTAL members and, as acceding members, so are hotels, transport operators, car rentals and other tourist companies in America and around the world. All official travel organizations in the countries of Latin America are also members of COTAL.

Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism

Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism (CAST) is the subsidiary organization of the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA), dedicated to the promotion of sustainable tourism. Its activities focus on providing environmental support to the operations of more than 725 CHTA hotels members, including the publication of manuals, workshops, conferences and seminars and the formulation and implementation of projects of international cooperation in the framework of the Caribbean hospitality.

CAST is a non-profit entity established in 1997 to promote responsible environmental and social management of natural and heritage resources respectively within the hotel and tourism sector. Current priority objectives include the identification and promotion of the natural and cultural resources of the Caribbean, integration of energy and water conservation programs in hotels and support for solid and liquid waste management in tourist destinations. (Caribnet)

St Kitts Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas (Photo by Erasmus Williams)

Speaker of the National Assembly, Curtis A Martin, has issues invitations to a wide cross section of the community requesting their presence at the Budget Session.

The lawmaking body will convene at 10:00 A.M.

Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Denzil Douglas will lay on the Table, the Report of the Director of Audit for 2009 before introducing the Appropriation Act, 2010. The presentation will be made on the Second Reading of the Act.

The Appropriation Act provides for the services of St Kitts and Nevis for the financial year from January 1st 2010 to December 31st 2010.

The Budget normally presented in December was delayed in view of the dissolution of the National Assembly and the January 25th general elections.

Debate on the Budget is expected to begin on Wednesday 24th 2010.

This was stated by Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Karl Samuda, at a press conference at the Ministry, in New Kingston Wednesday.

Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce,  Karl Samuda, addresses a press conference held (March 17) at his New Kingston offices, where he addressed rice and cement importation, among other matters - JIS photo

The Minister explained that the price increase is due mainly to the el nino phenomenon, a weather type, which adversely affects weather patterns around the world, and is expected to cause reduced crop production, due to little or no rainfall.

El Ni��o-Southern Oscillation, often called simply ENSO, is a climate pattern that occurs across the tropical Pacific Ocean on average every five years. It is best known for its association with floods, droughts and other weather disturbances in many regions of the world, which vary with each event. Developing countries dependent on agriculture and fishing are usually the most affected.

The price of rice imported from the United States is not expected to increase. Last year, Jamaica received 57 per cent or 44,882 metric tonnes of its total rice imports from Guyana, and 25 per cent or 25,266 metric tonnes from the United States.

Meanwhile, Samuda said there is hope on the horizon, as the pilot project to grow rice locally, which was launched by the Ministry of Agriculture last year, has been showing positive signs.

“As a result of that, Jamaica Rice Mills is at the moment looking at a possible investment of US$500,000 to improve their facilities and equipment. This is a direct result of our planned programme to grow rice in Jamaica. Of course, it will be dependent on certain waivers that would be granted to the company in order to enable them to import paddy rice, to support our local production of rice,” the Minister explained.

Another positive aspect of this, he said, is that there has been greater consumption of locally grown food, due to the reduction in the amount of imported rice that is consumed locally.

The Minister assured that even if locally produced rice is at the slightly higher end of the price scale initially, there will be overall benefits for the economy as local production will provide employment for Jamaicans.

He stressed that the price of local rice will not be so high as to be unaffordable or uncompetitive. “It depends on the economies of scale.if we have a small output, then the price is more challenging and as we develop the kinds of economies of scale that will make us competitive, then the price will be competitive against the Guyanese rice,” he said. (Caribnet)

The move marked the latest round of Duvaliers’ legal battle to stop some 4.6 million dollars of allegedly embezzled funds held by their foundation in Swiss bank accounts being returned to the impoverished Caribbean island.

Former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier. AFP PHOTO

A spokesman for Switzerland’s Federal Administrative Tribunal, Andrea Arcidiacono, said that the Liechtenstein-based Brouilly Foundation lodged the appeal on March 4.

“The appeal was lodged with the Federal Administrative Tribunal against the Federal Council’s (government) decision on February 3,” he told AFP.

The Swiss government decided last month to keep the Duvalier accounts frozen after its lengthy bid to return part of the 5.7 million dollars in Switzerland to Haiti was blocked by the supreme court.

It is trying to speed legislation through parliament to ease the confiscation and restitution of assets plundered by corrupt or greedy foreign politicians, partly on the supreme court judges’ advice.

Duvalier and his followers were accused of plundering hundreds of millions of dollars of state funds during their 15-year reign until “Baby Doc” was ousted in 1986.

Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said last month that Haiti should be the first to benefit from the new draft law. (Caribnet)

“Donor countries and multilateral organizations on Wednesday approved a 3.8 billion dollar fund the government of Haiti will receive over a period of 18 months,” Dominican Economy Minister Temistocles Montas said, reading from a committee statement.

Another 350 million dollars will also be approved to shore up Haiti’s state budget, he told reporters at the close of the committee that was jointly chaired by Haitian Prime Minister Jean Max Bellerive and Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez.

Some 28 donor nations will meet on March 31 at the United Nations in New York to pledge aid for earthquake-battered Haiti and help chart its recovery.

At the conference, Haiti will outline its long-term needs as it tries to rebuild from the January 12 earthquake that killed more than 220,000 people and left more than a million homeless, the US State Department said.

Senior officials agreed to organize the conference during an initial meeting on January 25 in Montreal. (Caribnet)

The funds are part of a 100 million dollar grant the World Bank announced for Haiti one day after the January 12 quake.

The funds will help restore key Haitian government economic and financial functions, “including data recovery, revenue and expenditure management, accountability and transparency functions in the ministry of economy and finance and other key institutions,” the statement read.

“Pre-fabricated premises, office space and equipment will be provided for these institutions to operate.”

The funds will also be used to rebuild key infrastructure, “including roads, bridges and administration buildings.

“These works are critical to give access to the damaged areas and to prevent further damages from flooding when the rainy season starts” in May, the statement read.

Reestablishing key financial and economic functions “is critical to a well-functioning state and to the reconstruction and recovery effort in Haiti,” said Yvonne Tsikata, World Bank Director for the Caribbean.

The 7.0-magnitude earthquake flattened large parts of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince and surrounding towns and villages, claiming more than 220,000 lives.

A World Bank and United Nations estimate found on Tuesday that Haiti, one of the world’s poorest countries, will need 11.5 billion dollars over three years to rebuild. (Caribnet)