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Irwin LaRocque: Youth Key to Integration

In Andros, Tackling the Food-Price Problem at the Grassroots

Above: BAIC Executive Chairman Edison Key tours the North Andros High School’s mini-greenhouse with teacher Shivanandah Ackloo (BIS Photo) By Gladstone Thurston With food prices an increasing challenge for the Caribbean, a group of students in the Bahamas are working …

Jamaica, International Financial Centre?

Jamaica has strong potential as an international financial centre, according to Eric Crawford, chairman of the Jamaican International Financial Services Authority. “It’s a very high value-added industry everywhere it exists,” he said at the Diaspora Convention in Ocho Rios this …

Chinese Firm to Build Cayman Port

A CHEC visit to the Bahamas earlier this year (Photo: CHEC) Cayman Premier McKeeva Bush said he expects to sign an agreement with a Chinese developer to build a new port in George Town. The company, China Harbour Engineering Company, …

Jamaica’s Stern: Time for More Intra-Regional Trade

CARICOM must improve intra-regional trade if it is to address the problems stemming from the global downturn, Jamaican Minister for Industry, Investment and Commerce Michael Stern said yesterday at the University of the West Indies. “The reality is that we …

Barbados, Jamaica Transport Ministers Meet on REDjet Licence

Jamaican Transport Minister Michael Henry is meeting with his counterpart from Barbados today to discuss a growing row between the three countries over REDjet’s application to fly into Jamaica. The meeting follows two significant events in the Caribbean airline market …

CARICOM to Establish Health Agency

By the Caribbean Journal staff Caribbean leaders are preparing to sign an agreement for the establishment of the Caribbean Public Health Agency on July 4, the agency, CARPHA, announced yesterday in Washington. “This new agency is a major step towards …

Unfinished Anguilla Resort Sells for $15M

The still-unfinished 280-acre Temenos resort on Anguilla was purchased by an American home-goods executive for $15 million. Leandro Rizzuto, who owns the nearby CuisinArt Resort & Spa on the island, paid around 10 percent of the balance owed to the …

Bahamas Works Minister Neko Grant: Tourist Infrastructure Vital

Ensuring that adequate infrastructure exists to support future tourism growth is vital, Bahamian Minister of Public Works Neko Grant said yesterday in a budget debate in Parliament. Grant said several countries have made this kind of infrastructure a priority, specifically …

Cristina Savescu, World Bank Economist, on Caribbean Growth

By Alexander Britell Earlier this week, the World Bank released a report on growth prospects for Latin America and the Caribbean. That macro region had three distinct areas – Latin America itself, which is in the midst of an economic …

Virgin May Drop Kingston Flights

Virgin Atlantic may be dropping its flights to Kingston, and Jamaican Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett is set to meet with the company to discuss the matter. The move will not affect flights from London to Jamaica’s Montego Bay, however. “We …

Jamaica’s Golding Talks Economy to Brookings Institution in Washington

Director of the Latin American Initiative at the Brookings Institute, Mauricio Cardenas and Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding (JIS Photo) Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding delivered a lecture on the Jamaican economy to Washington’s Brookings Institution think tank, focusing on …

Caribbean Must Shift Growth Strategy, according to World Bank Report

By the Caribbean Journal staff The Caribbean region, like the rest of the developing world, must refocus its strategies from crisis-fighting to structural reforms aimed at growth, according to this month’s Global Economic Prospects report from the World Bank. “Developing …

Bank of Jamaica Governor Brian Wynter: “Remarkable Change” Under Way

Brian Waynter (Photo: JIS) Jamaica is going through a period of “remarkable change,” Bank of Jamaica Governor Brian Wynter said yesterday at the Caribbean Canadian Emerging Leaders’ Dialogue Economic Symposium in St. Andrew. Wynter said the bank was working on …

Could Gardening Help with Food Prices?

Caribbean governments are encouraging citizens to plant their own gardens, in an effort to mitigate the impact of soaring food prices. Beatrice Buchanan, who lives in Kingston, Jamiaca, said her new garden is helping her to combat rising costs of …

Bahamas Oil Refining Company’s $40 Million Expansion Underway

The Bahamas Oil Refining Company has contracted with CB&I, a U.S. firm, for the construction of 14 new oil storage tanks, as part of a $40 million expansion. “CB&I’s scope of work includes the engineering, fabrication and construction of 14 …

REDjet’s Burns: No Plans to Sue

REDjet CEO Ian Burns said his company had no plans to bring a lawsuit against Jamaican authorities after its application to operate flights to the island had been delayed. “We’re in business in the Caribbean to work with governments and …

REDjet to CARICOM: Time for New Approach to Regional Air Travel

REDjet CEO Ian Burns wrote a letter to CARICOM Secretary General Lolita Applewhaite urging a new approach to Caribbean air travel. According to the letter, which appeared in the Jamaica Observer, Burns cited a 2006 World Bank report on air …

Caribbean Joint Action Plan Commits $960 Million in First Year

The European Investment Bank By the Caribbean Journal staff The Caribbean Joint Action Plan, a collaboration between six leading development banks aimed at bringing the Caribbean out of the downturn, has totaled more than $960 million in commitments to private …