CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
BARBADOS
The Barbados government and
the United Kingdom in Saudi Arabia
recently held preliminary talks centered
around the establishment of a Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) on
Tourism Cooperation as well as looking
into developing an Air Services Agreement
with a focus on Saudi, the flag
carrier of the oil rich kingdom.
The talks were held following the
recent arrival of the
delegation from Saudi
Arabia headed by the
country’s Minister of
Tourism and the Chairman
of the Saudi Fund
for Development, Ahmed Al- Khateeb.
The group was welcomed by Minister
of Tourism and International Transport
and Leader of Government Business in
the Senate, Senator Lisa Cummins, who
also met with members of the Cabinet.
Discussions at the Lloyd Erskkme
Saniford Center led by Cummins centered
on avenues such as the greater use
of renewable energy; advanced infrastructure
development and the overall
integration of sustainability into Barbados
tourism development planning,
were top of the agenda on the comprehensive
discussions.
Following the visit, the government
of Barbados will outline its priority
projects which a dedicated team assembled
by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will
study and together the two nations will
determine the way forward.
Barbados sees a MOU with Saudi Arabia
as a prime opportunity for the development
of joint tourism job creation and
joint investment in tourism education
training.
CARIBBEAN
Five countries in the Eastern Caribbean
have received US$2 million each
in the battle against the Sargassum
seaweed.
Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, St.
Kitts and Nevis, St.
Vincent and the Grenadines
and St. Lucia
gained access to a
US$12-million threeyear
grant-aid project entitled; The
Project for Improving National Sargassum
Management Capacities in the
Caribbean.
The project is being funded by the
Government of Japan and executed by
the United Nations Development Program
(UNDP).
The signing of the official Exchange
of Notes between Japan and the UNDP
for the partnership took place at UN
House in Barbados recently.
Speaking during the event on behalf
of the recipient countries, Barbados’
Minister of the Environment and
National Beautification, Adrian Force,
Caribbean L 4 ife, March 11-17, 2022
Journalists carry photojournalist Maxihen Lazzare on to a truck after he was shot dead while covering a protest by factory workers
demanding higher salaries in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022. Men wearing police uniforms drove by the protest and
fi red into the crowd where Lazzare was covering the demonstration. Associated Press/Odelyn Joseph
thanked and welcomed any intervention
to assist Barbados and its Caribbean
neighbors in the fight against the
Sargassum seaweed.
He noted that the presence of the
algae also created problems for marine
life.
GUYANA
Guyana is set to join the Regional
Security System (RSS) established in
1982 to provide security in the Eastern
Caribbean.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley
who attended a fourday
working visit to
Georgetown recently
said, “that is a significant
impetus for us
in the Southern Caribbean, Guyana’s
military is long established and is well
equipped and therefore the ability to
have another anchor in the Regional
Security System is something that will
enhance the ability not only to respond
to national security issues but in particular
as we get ready to go into the
hurricane season.”
The RSS was created out of the
need for a collective response to secure
threats, which were impacting on the
stability of the region in the early 1970s
and 1980s.
The RSS has additional responsibilities
to the wider Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) region as provided
for under the Treaty on Security Assistance.
The Barbados-based RSS headquarters
is the coordinating secretariat
of the CARICOM Security Assistance
Mechanism.
HAITI
Haitian Prime Minister, Dr. Ariel
Henry has “deplored” the death of journalist,
Lazzare Maxiben, who was killed
as he covered a protest demonstration
by textile workers calling for a higher
minimum wage that what had been
announced recently.
Maxiben, a photojournalist with the
online media RDI, was
shot and killed during
the demonstration,
while three other journalists
were injured by
bullets.
“While committing to guarantee the
freedom to demonstrate, in compliance
with the law and republican values, the
government recall the responsibility of
public authorities to ensure order and
security with a view to restoring peace,”
Henry said in a statement.
A few days before, Haiti announced
an increase in the minimum wages less
than week after police used teargas to
disperse textile workers who had taken
to the streets to demand an increase in
their minimum wages.
The workers were demanding a 300
percent increase in their minimum
wage, which is now 500 Gourdes (one
Gourdes is equivalent to US$ 0.009
cents) per eight-hour working day in
addition to other social benefits such as
transport and food subsidies.
JAMAICA
Travelers will no longer be required
to go into mandatory quarantine or
present an authorization form to enter
Jamaica.
These measures went into effect from
March 1, 2022.
In a release, the Jamaica Tourist
Continued on Page 16
THE NEWS FROM BACK HOME
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Haitian PM condems journalist’s death
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