PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago will host a meeting of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Canadian public and private sector officials to share best practices, Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar has announced.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Noted financial crime expert and money-laundering author Jeffrey Robinson said if Caribbean governments wait it out, the United States’ Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) will not be around in five years.
“FATCA worldwide is still born. FATCA will eventually die because there will be too many big jurisdictions who will simply refuse to comply,” he said.
“It won’t work because there will be non-compliance by the Caymans and there will be non-compliance by Switzerland … The Chinese are not going to report.”
WASHINGTON D.C., United States – A major United States publication says Antigua and Barbuda will be a “Caribbean headache” for President Barack Obama’s new nominee of chief trade negotiator - Michael Froman.
Bloomberg Businessweek says Michael Froman has “plenty of negotiating work ahead of him.
“With so many challenges ahead, you can forgive Froman if fixing a dispute with the tiny country of Antigua and Barbuda doesn’t rank high on his to-do list.”
KINGSTON, Jamaica - After a mere 20 months in the job, Mr Irwin LaRocque, the Caricom secretary general, must feel a bit dispirited.
For, based on the information provided by eminent Caribbean journalist Mr Rickey Singh, and published in this week's Sunday Observer, Caricom now faces the danger of disintegration, instead of deepened economic integration and functional co-operation.
According to Mr Singh, that is the likely outcome if the regional movement fails to put in place a new management system for effective governance of its affairs.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Apparently now more disposed to striking a militant posture to influence decision-making processes at the Caribbean Community Secretariat, Secretary General Irwin LaRocque made a spirited intervention at last week’s ministerial meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED).
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Advocate -The year 2012 was hot! In fact, it was ranked among one of the top 10 warmest years on record, says Omar Baddour, Climatologist with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). This, despite the cooling influence of La Niña early in the year. He recently indicated that extreme weather and climate events were also noted last year, such as Tropical Storm Sandy which hit the United States and the Caribbean.
THE South American country of Guyana is trying to decide what to do with a large quantity of gold it bought from local miners when demand was high. President Donald Ramotar said Saturday that he will meet with advisers to determine when it's best to sell the gold following a recent fall in prices. He declined to say how much gold the Guyana Gold Board had bought from local miners, but miners' association spokesman Tony Shields puts the number at 60,000 ounces. He says the association warned the government about dropping prices.
KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - Key stakeholders in the business community in western Jamaica are cautiously optimistic about the deal struck between the Government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and have given the Richard Byles and Brian Wynter-led monitoring committee its vote of confidence.
KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - JAMAICANS are being urged to plan ahead for the 2013 Atlantic Hurricane Season, which is expected to see the Caribbean facing at least one major hurricane. Acting Director of the National Meteorological Service, Jeffrey Spooner, said this is based on projections of Colorado State University, which has — for the first time in a long while — indicated that the Caribbean is "in line" for a hit from a major hurricane.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Stabroek News - Perusing the statements by West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) chief executive officer Michael Muirhead and newly elected Board president Whycliffe ‘Dave’ Cameron regarding Pakistan’s tour of the West Indies this year, which will comprise five One Day Internationals (ODIs) and two Twenty20 (T20) matches, one is left none the wiser as to what precisely were the “circumstances” Mr Cameron was referring to that “dictated” that no Test matches would be played.