CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
Antigua
The court-appointed administrator
for cash-strapped regional airline
LIAT, Cleveland Seaford, has said talks
were still ongoing with Barbados and
St. Vincent and the Grenadines, after
two former shareholder governments
banned the airline from landing at the
airports, in the two countries over valid
flight approvals.
“The latest is that
we continue to have
discussions with Barbados
and St. Vincent
and the Grenadines,”
he said, adding in addition to the situation,
an issue has arisen with Kingstown
surrounding the ground handling
operations for the airline.
Last week, LIAT said it was forced
to suspend services to the two Caribbean
destinations while it awaited the
approval from the relevant authorities
there.
LIAT said prior to its suspension of
services in March, it had been operating
to Barbados and St. Vincent and the
Grenadines “on valid flight approvals,
which have not expired.”
Seaforth said in the case of Barbados
“it came as a surprise to us” by the decision
to have a valid permit to fly into
Barbados until July 2024.
He said Barbados authorities had
informed them that “we would have
to make other arrangements before we
could fly into Barbados.”
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister
Gaston Browne, has criticized the
decision of the former two shareholder
governments of the airline to operate
schedule flights into their countries.
Barbados
The Barbados government
has postponed
the United
Nations Conference
on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD) 15 to October next
year.
Prime Minister Mia Mottley said due
to the second wave of the COVID-19
virus sweeping across North American
and Europe, the event will be put off for
a second time.
UNCTAD 15 was originally scheduled
for Barbados in April, but when
COVID-29 hit the island in March, it
was rescheduled for Oct. 18-21.
But, she said, those dates will not be
sustainable.
The conference, expected to attract
delegates from more than 40 countries,
has now been tentatively put for
Oct. 3-8, 2021, with pre-events set for
Oct. 1.
Mottley, speaking via Zoom along
with UNCTAD Secretary General
Mukhisa Kituyi, said it would have
been impossible to stage the event this
year as an in-person conference, due
to logistical issues, which have risen
from trying to get a high volume of
participants into Barbados and properly
into a conference location while still
adhering to the country’s public health
protocols.
Caribbean
The International Monetary Fund
(IMF) has indicated that the next two
years for the Caribbean would be economically
Caribbean Life, D 4 ECEMBER 25-31, 2020
difficult.
Speaking at a virtual event held by
the Central Bank in Barbados, director
for the Western Hemisphere at the IMF
Alejandro Werner said the Caribbean is
one of the hardest of
the hardest-hit regions
by the deepest crisis
in a century, and it is
going to be a significant
challenging economic
environment for the economies
in the Caribbean in 2021 and 2022.
CARICOM chairman and Prime Minister
of St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, who also spoke
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at the event said the entire Caribbean
has suffered a significant shock due
to COVID-19, with tourism-dependent
economies feeling a bit more of the
brunt.
He said although the Caribbean is
projected to record increased growth in
2021, it would not be enough to recover
from COVID-19’s devastating impact
in 2020.
Dr. Gonsalves said that the Caribbean
needs to think about special circumstances
to make the 2021 economic
recovery more significant, alongside
trying to assist families and firms.
He said the region would only offset
losses when the COVID-19 vaccine has
an impact and when travel and tourism
begins to recover.
Cayman Islands
The Premier of the British overseas
territory, Alden Mc Laughlin, said a
mass vaccination campaign to prevent
the spread of COVID-19 will be begin
across the island in January 2021.
In making the announcement in Parliament,
McLaughlin said that he will
be among the first to take the vaccine.
He said that based on how well the
vaccination campaign goes, his administration
could open local borders by
March.
In unveiling the plan, the premier
said that the plan which has been
approved by Cabinet will initially focus
on persons over 60 years old and those
who have certain defined conditions
and diseases that make
them more vulnerable
to the effects of the
coronavirus.
He added that the
vaccine will greatly reduce the chances
of getting COVID-19 and “the potential
severity of the illness if we should contract
it, but nothing is guaranteed.”
The premier said the vaccines will be
provided by the United Kingdom and
will be free.
He stressed that the inoculation will
be voluntary but he encouraged the
public to do due diligence, and to keep
their minds open to the benefits that
participation will offer.
Jamaica
More than 6,000 counterfeit masks
which were destined for Jamaica, from
Hong Kong, were intercepted by United
States Customs and Border Protection
(CBP) officers in Cincinnati, US.
It was reported by CBP that on Dec.
6, an incoming shipment of 38 boxes
containing 6,080 masks labeled as 3M
Disposable Respirators Model 8210 was
inspected by officers.
The discrepancies were discovered
as the shipment did not match the
requirements for the ”3M Safe Guard
product authenticated process,” CBP
stated.
Additionally, CBP
said the boxes were
reportedly labeled
as “Made in the US”
even though they were
imported through a freight forwarder in
Hong Kong.
Following the inspections, it was
determined by officers that the masks
were counterfeit.
Cincinnati Port Director, Richard
Gillespie said counterfeit masks like
these are not tested using the same
quality control standards as the genuine
product and it is unlikely they will
perform in the same manner as the
genuine product was designed to do.
St. Vincent
St. Vincent and the Grenadines has
recorded its 100th COVID-19 case with
the addition of two new cases, one from
the US and the other from the UK last
week.
Earlier this month, local health officials
had warned the risk of travelers
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley. Photo by George Alleyne
Continued on Page 16
THE NEWS FROM BACK HOME
B’dos postpones UNCTAD meeting
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