Antigua
LIAT is partnering with Antigua and Barbuda Festivals Commission to sponsor Antigua Carnival 2019.
The airline is the official Regional Airline of the festival which runs from July 25 to Aug. 6, 2019.
Chief Executive Officer of LIAT, Julie Reifer-Jones noted that the relationship between Antigua and LIAT has always been a unique one with Antigua being the airline’s home-base. She reiterated LIAT’s commitment to Antigua and Barbuda and its partnership with the Antigua and Barbuda Festivals Commission.
She also commended the Antigua and Barbuda Festivals Commission for the growth of the festival over the years as it is now one of the most anticipated festivals in the Caribbean.
The airline will provide sponsorship through transportation of regional artistes, festival partners and the media fort the festival. The airline will also operate its daily schedule to provide connections for visitors who wish to participate in the festivities.
Barbados
Barbados National Terminal Company Limited (BNTCL) says it is now getting its supply of oil from Petrojam in Jamaica following the closure of the Trinidad and Tobago state-owned Petrotrin oil refinery in Trinidad and Tobago.
BNTCL Chairman, Alex McDonald said that the new agreement with Petrojam has resulted in Barbadians paying much less for fuel after the company received several quotations and was able to negotiate a better deal.
He said it was a much more competitive than the Petrotrin deal.
The Trinidad and Tobago government shut down the island’s refinery last year after complaining of billions of dollars in losses annually.
It has since established Heritage Petroleum Company and Paria Fuel Trading Company that are undertaking exploration as well as handling fuel logistics and the energy trading aspect of the business, respectively.
Grenada
A Grenadian attorney, Brendon La Touche is in the United States participating in the US Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP).
He is taking part in a three-week project on “Combating Trafficking in Persons.”
La Touche is a crown counsel in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in Grenada. The office of the DPP is responsible for the effective prosecution of all criminal related matters in Grenada.
During the program, he and other participants will review US government strategies to combat international trafficking in persons, including crimes against women and children, by examining the formulation, administration and enforcement of US policy on national, state and local levels.
Jamaica
The Jamaica-based Global Tourism and Crisis Management Center will collaborate with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) co conduct research on the potential threat of sargassum to the Caribbean.
Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett said the center will be partnering with MIT, one of the leading research institutions in the US to explore the best possible strategies that Jamaica and the Caribbean can implement to be proactive and prevent sargassum from populating the beaches.
Sargassum is a type of brown seaweed. Numerous species are distributed throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world, where they inhabit shallow water and coral reefs.
The tourism minister said the issue of managing sargassum has become more urgent since large quantities of different species of the algae accumulated along the shores of many of the countries on the Caribbean Sea in 2015.
The Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Center, which will open its doors in October at the University of the West Indies (UWI) is being tasked with assessing research and monitoring of the situation, plan for, forecast, mitigate and manage risks related to tourism resilience and crisis management.
St. Vincent
The St. Vincent and the Grenadines government has approved several cannabis cultivation licenses recommended by the Medical Cannabis Authority (MCA).
Prime Minister, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves speaking on a local radio program said the MCA made the recommendations after examining some of the applicants received so far and conducting due diligence.
He said the authority, through its chief executive officer Jerrol Thompson and Minister of Agriculture, Saboto Caesar, would provide the details.
Dr. Gonsalves said for traditional cultivators, 21 licenses which were recommended have been approved, eight of them are for groups and these eight groups have between them about l00 persons.
He said there are three nationals who have been granted traditional licenses who are not traditional cultivators and 10 companies have been registered that are owned, in the majority, by non-nationals, while others have nationals involved with them.
The prime minister said a license costs a non-national EC$100,000 and allows for the cultivation of up to one acre of land and is valid for one year.
Trinidad
Parliamentarians in the Commonwealth Caribbean recently attended their 44th annual Caribbean, Americas and Atlantic (CCA) conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
The three-day conference brought together presiding officers, parliamentarians, clerks and youth parliamentarians to discuss matters affecting the Caribbean region.
The broad theme of the conference was “Globalization and Nationalism: Quo Vadis (where it is heading)? – Impacts on Commonwealth Parliament.”
Under the umbrella of this general theme, the topics of discussions included Migrants and Refugees: Human Rights of the Disabled; and Digital Information.
Participants included presiding officers and parliamentarians from several Caribbean countries, including Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Turks and Caicos Islands and Trinidad and Tobago.
Trinidad & Tobago President, Paula Mae Weekes delivered the opening address. Trinidad & Tobago Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Rowley also gave remarks at the opening ceremony.
— Compiled by Azad Ali
