CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
ANTIGUA
Antigua and Barbuda Tourism
Authority (ABTA), is encouraging the
public to participate in a competition to
place the island’s West Indian Whistling
Duck on the tail of American-based carrier,
Frontier Airlines.
This comes as Frontier has launched
a competition to brand the tail of their
next plane with one of the native and
endangered species in the destinations
they serve.
Antigua and Barbuda’s
whistling duck has
been selected as one
of the finalists in the
competition, which is
geared towards bringing awareness to
the endangered species within that specific
country.
The other four finalists are Guatemala,
The Bahamas, Costa Rica, Belize
and Puerto Rico.
“We are encouraging persons to vote,
vote for Antigua and Barbuda. We don’t
know where we are standing in comparison
to the other five countries that are
in the running, but we would absolutely
love persons to vote for the whistling
duck,” said Maria Blackman, ABTA’s
marketing communications manager.
“The West Indian Whistling Duck is
generally found in the northern West
Indies and is one of the rarest types
of ducks and although it is scarce in
other islands, in Antigua and Barbuda,
we have a fairly significant population,”
she said.
BARBADOS
The International Monetary Fund
(IMF) said that following a modest
economic recovery in 2021, Barbados
continues to face economic challenges
owing to the global
coronavirus (COVID-
19) pandemic.
Bert van Selma,
who led a virtual IMF
mission recently to the island said the
ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues
to pose economic challenges to
Barbados.
He noted that tourism has rebounded
in recent months, leading to real Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) of 1.4 percent
for 2021 and 11.5 percent in the fourth
quarter of 2021.
“A gradual economic recovery is
expected over the medium term but
risks to the outlook remains high,” the
IMF official said.
In a statement, the IMF said that
during Feb. 7-11 virtual visit, the delegation
discussed the implementation
of Barbados’ Economic Recovery and
Transformation (BERT) plan, supported
by the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
The four-year extended arrangement
under the EFF was approved on October
1, 2018 and is for the amount is
Caribbean L 4 ife, MARCH 4-10, 2022
Grenada’s Prime Minister Keith Mitchell listens during a news conference to mark the end of the Commonwealth Heads of Government
Meeting at Marlborough House in London, Britain, April 20, 2018. Recently the prime minister was one of the signatories to the
intra-CARICOM phone roaming charges declaration with the Digicel Group and Cable & Wireless Communications,. REUTERS/
US$464 million.
The IMF mission chief said that in
this very challenging environment, Barbados
continues to make good progress
in implementing its ambitious and
comprehensive economic reform program,
while expanding critical investments
in social protection.
CARIBBEAN
CARICOM heads of government
along with regional network operators
Digicel Group and Cable & Wireless
Communications,
have signed a declaration
which will result
in the reduction of
intra-CARICOM phone
roaming charges.
The signing of the St. George declaration
last week will result in reduced
roaming charges in all CARICOM countries
and provide seamless mobile services,
including voice, text messaging
and data.
In a release to the media Digicel said
the signing of the declaration was recognition
of the global issue of unpredictable
mobile roaming costs.
Digicel Group Government Relations
Director, Kieran Mulvey was among
other signatories including Grenada
Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell and
vice president of Cable & Wireless Communications
South Caribbean Kurliegh
Prescott.
Roaming costs could be reduced to
as low as 70 percent of current rates.
The declaration will take effect within
the second quarter of this year.
Mitchell said while the signing of the
declaration was historic, there were still
some significant milestone ahead.
Mitchell said heads of government
recognized a long time ago that the
ability to roam in CARICOM states at
reasonable costs would promote greater
connectivity.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley,
who attended the signing virtually,
said the signing was a large step.
GUYANA
The Guyana government through
the Ministry of Natural Resources has
welcomed the announcement by ExxonMobil
on the start of production at
Guyana’s Second Offshore Development
from the Liza Unity vessel.
The operation of the Liza Unity floating,
production, storage and offloading
(FPSO) vessel will realize it’s target of
220,000 barrels of oil per day later this
year which will bring
Guyana’s production
capacity to more than
340,000 barrels per
day, which includes
the more than 120,000 barrels per day
capacity at the Liza Destiny FPSO.
Minister of Natural Resource, Vickram
Bharrat said that the increased
total daily capacity of oil augurs well
for Guyana, especially on the heels
of operationalising the Local Content
Secretariat and the Natural Resources
Fund, in keeping with the Santiago
Principles of transparency and accountability
within the petroleum sector.
He added that that the government
of Guyana will be taking all necessary
steps to ensure that all Guyanese benefit
from the earnings derived from the
oil sector.
In a statement, ExxonMobil said Guyana’s
current resource has the potential
to support up to 10 projects.
The Liza Unity arrived in Guyana in
October 2021.
JAMAICA
The Jamaican government is funding
students to return home from the wartorn
Ukraine.
There has been an
escalation in violence
in Ukraine by Russia
and the government
has been working
to remove students from the conflict
zone.
In a virtual press conference last
week, Minister of Foreign Affairs and
Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson
announced that the government
has been been fully engaged with the
students and their parents.
The minister said the government
managed to assist some 23 students to
get to Poland where arrangements will
Hannah McKay/File
Continued on Page 8
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