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Spencer touts benefits of OECS integration

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Chairman of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer said being a part of the union helped member-states weather the global economic crisis, and that the future of the union looks bright.
“One shudders to contemplate what could have been the condition of our individual OECS member states in the face of the global crisis without the mutual support, which is a central feature of our current integration arrangement,” he said.

Pilots to undergo training for new LIAT aircraft

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of LIAT Ian Brunton revealed at least three months of training would be required for LIAT pilots to begin flying new ATR aircraft acquired by the airline.
Brunton said training is to begin with a “long three-month process, starting with the ground school” run by the manufacturer in France.
“Pilots have to go across to the training center for ground school and then for both ground and flight simulation,” Brunton said.

Maintain EC currency, advises OECS official

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Despite recent suggestions from an international investment agency that Caribbean territories devalue the Eastern Caribbean currency, a top OECS official is advising otherwise.
Senior Director at the OECS Secretariat Randy Cato said programmes and policies should be implemented to ensure the EC value is maintained as it is “very important for economic decision-making.
“We need to maintain the strength and the value of the EC Caribbean dollar as a currency in which there is significant confidence,” Cato told OBSERVER media yesterday.

Our success story

ST JOHN’S, Antigua - Today, the nine countries, comprising the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, will reflect on how far they have come since that red letter day of June 18, 1981, when the Treaty of Basseterre was signed, bringing the organisation into being. Many years later, on that same date in 2010, the revised treaty came into being with its focus being economic union and having a single space.

Antigua-Venezuela Friendship Association launched

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Thirty years after establishing diplomatic relations, Antigua & Barbuda and Venezuela on Saturday took their already cordial affairs in a new direction.
The two independent nations launched the Antigua-Venezuela Friendship Association – a level of co-operation that officials said would help cement the unbreakable bonds between the peoples of the two countries.
Venezuelan ambassador to Antigua & Barbuda Carlos Perez Silva hailed the launch as “a movement of solidarity with Venezuela and its Bolivarian revolution.”

Of pests and pestilences

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua - There was a time, before global warming and the advent of modern transportation systems, when strict controls of agricultural and animal products imported into Antigua & Barbuda were rigorously enforced. These efforts seemed to work in keeping our local plants and livestock free from invasive attack.
We have recollections where visitors, arriving by air from a neighbouring territory with an outbreak of mad cow disease, were obliged to sterilise their shoes by stepping on a disinfectant mat as they stepped off the airplane.

Government re-launch initiative to stimulate local economy

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – The Antigua and Barbuda government says it will re-launch an initiative aimed at stimulating the economy and providing nationals with an opportunity to own their own homes.
The Baldwin Spencer government says is in collaboration with the Antigua and Barbuda Investment Authority (ABIA), it will re-launch the Construct Antigua and Barbuda Initiative (CAB-I) 2013, on Monday.

UN General Assembly elects John Ashe as envoy president

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Antigua & Barbuda’s ambassador to the United Nations, John William Ashe, was elected president of the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday. The one-year presidency of UNGA rotates among regions, with the 68th session being the turn of the Latin American and Caribbean regional group, and Ashe the unanimous choice. The president-elect will assume office at the start of the 68th Session in September.

ATR 72-600 Lands In Antigua

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – The arrival of the first new 68-seat LIAT ATR 72-600 aircraft at the VC Bird International Airport yesterday was hailed a “game changer” by LIAT Chief Executive Officer Ian Brunton.
Brunton said by updating the fleet, the airline will be able to lower fares, but not before 2015 at least.
“With airlines, the operating costs are really what grab you and the maintenance costs are so high on old airplanes,” he said.

LIAT takes to the skies with new planes

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – The financially strapped regional airline, LIAT, Thursday announced it had taken possession of an ATR 72-600 aircraft as it upgrades its aging fleet. The airline said the French-manufactured ATR is being leased from the lessor GECAS (GE Capital Aviation Services) and “is the first of a total of eight ATRs -four 68-seat ATR 72-600 and four 48-seat ATR 42-600s- that will be introduced into LIAT’s fleet.

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