World
Caribbean RoundUp
ANTIGUA
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said he is not satisfied with the response from his T&T counterpart regarding the non-payment of millions of US dollars linked to the scallop of the Trinidad-based Insurance Company CLICO and British American Insurance Company (BAICO) in 2009.
Browne, who is the chairman of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) sub-committee on insurance, had said last month that a decision was taken to take the Keith Rowley administration before the Port of Spain Caribbean Court of Justice. The government of Trinidad and Tobago paid US$40 million of its debt but US$60 million is still outstanding.
BARBADOS
Prime Minister Mia Mottley is urging the children of the world to “lead the revolution” as well as holding their leaders responsibility at the recent spotlight on the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG,), which was held in Bridgetown.
She said the SDG Moment is taking place as the world faces a deepening cost of living crisis that carries huge implications for the advancement of the SDGs, especially in the developing countries.
Convened by the UN Secretary General, António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres, the Moment will provide world leaders with a platform to showcase the bold actions and solutions that are needed to set the world on course to achieving the SDGS.
The SDG Moment event is expected to build momentum as we head towards the SDG Summit in 2003.
CARIBBEAN.
Caribbean countries have renewed their parametric insurance coverage for tropical cyclones, excess rainfall and earthquake, and the fisheries sector for the policy year 2022-2023, which began on June 1, the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) announced.
It said for the earthquake, cyclone and excess rainfall policies, member countries ceded more than US $1.2 billion in coverage, and increase of 10 percent over the previous years.
According to the CCRIF 13-member government increase their coverage compare with the 2021-2022 policy year.
“The renewal and the demand for increased coverage by members is illustrated that countries continue to recognize the critical importance of financially protecting their economies against natural disaster, especially in the context of the increasing frequency and intensity of natural hazards.”
The CCRIF said it has continued to work with development partners to explore opportunities to support its members to retain and increase coverage.
DOMINICA
Dominica”s main opposition United Workers Party (UWP), leader, Lennox Linton has reportedly resigned.
Lennox who has been at the helm of the party since 2013 and was re-elected in 2021 unopposed in December 2021, tendered his resignation as leader of the party to President Isaac Baptiste, effectively immediately.
This follows the party’s defeat in the two elections
Party officials have not yet commented on his resignation as leader, but according to analyst, with Linton’s resignation, Deputy Political Leader, Franciscan Joseph would be appointed party leader until that position is determined at the party’s delegation conference scheduled to be held in November.
GUYANA
The Irfaan Ali government has slashed the cost of gasoline and diesel from the Guyana Oil Company Ltd. (GUYOIL) in a bid to bring further relief to consumers across the country.
In a statement last week, the Minister of Finance, Ashni Kumar Singh said that the price will be reduced by 20 percent and the price of diesel will be slashed by 15 percent.
These changes are expected to start taking effect as early as last week.
According to the Singh, during the first half of 2022, the global oil prices surge more than 50 percent, increasing from US$77 per barrel at the end of December 2021 to $ 1.20 in June of this year, having risen as high as $US 137 per barrel primarily as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
HAITI
Haiti National Police said it is investigating the recent slaying of three officers that is blamed on ongoing gang violence.
The agency said that a gang called “The Makak” which means Little Macaques, killed the officers in Laboule a largely gated community located just outside South of Port -au-Prince.
It also the site of recent turf wars between gangs that have led to other killings in the area, including two journalists who were fatally shot and set on fire in January and a former senator who wrote for the Ministry of Total Affairs and Labor and his nephew who were killed in August in the same fashion.
The international community has tried to help boost Haiti’s National Police by providing training and resources in recent months .
TRINIDAD
Trinidad and Tobago President Paula May-Weekes has said with the death of Queen Elizabeth II, more and more Commonwealth nations may make a clean break from the Monarchy.
She made her feelings known during an interview with SKY NEWS journalist recently at the Trinidad and Tobago High Commission in London.
That interview has since been posted to social media,including YouTube.
Asked her view on the state of the Commonwealth now that a new monarch, King Charles 111, is on the throne, Weeks said, “there is a feeling now, that after all these years, that the sovereignty now should be the people.”
The president’s comments came after King Charles met with leaders/heads of state of Commonwealth countries recently, when he personally thanked them for coming to London to attend his mother’s funeral.
— Compiled by Azad Ali
