CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
Antigua
Antigua and Barbuda
is expected to
benefit from the largest
renewable energy
initiative of its kind in
the Caribbean region in the form of
$5.7 million to build a modern, climateresilient,
safe, reliable and sustainable
supply of electrical power for Barbuda
in the wake of Hurricane Irma, which
destroyed about 95 percent of the island
on Sept. 6, 2017 and forced all 1,800
residents to be evacuated to Antigua.
In that respect, the UAE- Caribbean
Renewable Energy Fund (UAE-CREF)
has put $3.5 million during the first
round of funding in 2017, in addition
to $700,000 in humanitarian funding
which the UAE provided to Antigua and
Barbuda after Hurricane Irma in 2017.
The UAE-CREF recently announced
the partnership with the government of
Antigua and Barbuda’s Ministry of Public
Utilities, Civil Aviation, Transport
and Energy, the CARICOM Development
Fund (CDF) and the New Zealand
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
to restore power to Barbuda following
the near-total destruction of the island
after Hurricane Irma struck in September
2017.
The government of Antigua and
Barbuda also put forth $1 million
through the CDF, and the government
of New Zealand donated $500,000 to
aid in funding the project and building
a hybrid solar-diesel power station
equipped with hurricane-resilient battery
storage.
Bahamas
The Pan American
Health Organization
(PAHO) has sent
Emergency Medical
teams to focus on the
clinical care to save the lives of persons
who survived Hurricane Dorian and
keeping them safe.
PAHO’s representative in The Bahamas,
Dr. Esther de Gourville said it is
a desperate situation for some persons
in Abaco.
She said PAHO was working with The
Bahamas Ministry of Health and emergency
teams to help those who survived
secure food supplies, safe drinking
water and sanitation.
She said assessment of needs had
begun and a structures expert was looking
at damaged health facilities.
PAHO said it has pledged health sector
infrastructure and public health
support and is acting quickly with the
support of The Bahamas Ministry of
Health to assess needs and damage
assessments.
It has also established and Incident
Management System in its country
office.
Caribbean L 4 ife, Sept. 27 - Oct.3, 2019
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OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro addresses the VIII Inter-American Meeting of Ministers of Culture and Highest Appropriate
Authorities in Barbados. See story on Page 20. OAS
With the many health centers flooded
and unable to receive patients, a
full hospital-capable emergency medical
team from Samaritans Purse has
arrived in the Bahamas for a threemonth
stay.
The team includes six doctors and
two surgeons, 16 nurses, two anesthesiologists,
allied health personnel, and
logistics and management staff.
Another emergency medical team
from Team Rubicon has been deployed
to Abaco for a 15-day mission.
Barbados
Barbadian Prime
Minister, Mia Mottley
has called on the
national community
for the political will, as
well as a multilateral approach, to deal
with the impact of climate change.
She also said that new institutional
structures are needed that will
allow more substantial resources to
be raised for Small Island Developing
States (SIDS) in building resilience in a
changing global environment.
Mottley, who was at the time delivering
the United Nations Conference
on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
16th Prebisch Lecture in Geneva, Switzerland.
She said there was no need for a
moral obligation to deal with the existential
threat of climate change as had
been the case when the global community
stood up against colonialism, slavery,
the insidious threats of terrorism
and other issues.
She asked when will the political will
be formed within countries and across
international institutions to do what is
right to create a policy space?’
Mottley, the first Caribbean leader
to deliver the Prebisch Lecture, said
the policy flexibility will often be of
minimal cost to the developed world in
terms of the market access they grant,
but will give opportunities and may
even have tremendous transformative
effect for us in the developing world.
She noted that countries cannot
sign up to international treaties, charters,
commitments and declarations
and then treat them as if they are not
meaningful or real, adding they can
only apply to others or when it is not
inconvenient to the powerful, if they are
treated as hollow documents.
The Barbadian PM said the reform of
the international institutions, not just
the international institutions but also
the wider UN system, is a task must be
completed.
Grenada
Stakeholders in the
public and private sectors
recently received
training in anti-money
laundering and counterterrorism
financing processes, in
preparation for Grenada’s Mutual Evaluation
Review next year.
The three-day training is intended
to foster a greater understanding of the
technical issues associated with the
mutual evaluation, which is, scheduled
for June 2020.
It will determine Grenada’s technical
/ legislative compliance and effectiveness
with the FATF’s 40 recommendations
which focus on anti-money laundering,
countering the financing of terrorism
and the proliferation of weapons
of mass destruction.
Prime Minister and Minister of
National Security, Dr. Keith Mitchell
told participants at the training that
Grenada is committed to ensure adherence
to international standards to combat
money laundering and terrorism
financing.
He said through the years, Grenada
has made significant strides in ensuring
that the legislative regime is robust,
current and in keeping with international
standards and serves adequately
as the primary tool in the fight against
these crimes.
Mitchell also cited the passage of
various pieces of legislation as also
being indicative of government’s commitment
to anti-money laundering.
Guyana
Guyana Department of Tourism
and Ministry of Agriculture recently
launched the country’s first agri-tour-
Continued on Page 22
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