ST. JOHN’S, Antigua - Five years into the global financial crisis, the US and global economies remain mired in a weak-growth, low-inflation, high-unemployment environment. Debt busts such as 2008-09 are hard to exit from, and recoveries are long and painful. However, three complicating factors make the current environment even more challenging.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Thirty-six delegates representing 14 countries throughout the Caribbean are gathered at Jolly Beach for a five-day seminar hosted by Antigua & Barbuda Department of Marine Services and Merchant Shipping (ADOMS) and organised by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). The IMO-organised Regional Seminar on Facilitation of Maritime Traffic (FAL) runs from June 4 to June 7with focused discussions emphasizing trade facilitation.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Dr Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St Vincent & the Grenadines, one of the three LIAT shareholder governments, said the airline’s employees are essential workers, echoing controversial sentiments made by LIAT’s chairman last month. “(Work) in the aviation business, certainly in LIAT, is an essential services. If you don’t accept that you don’t live in the real world today,” he said. “It is as essential as being the worker in the electricity services or as in water.”
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – The 57th Meeting of the Organisation of the Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Authority concluded yesterday with sub-regional heads of governments promising to put economic growth and development high on the agenda going forward. Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer, recently installed as chairman of the OECS Authority, said he and his counterparts received a presentation on the Draft OECS Development Strategy, which focused on developing the tourism, agriculture, manufacturing, construction, and ICT industries in the region.
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua - Economics is sometimes referred to as The Dismal Science. It is not hard these days to be sympathetic to that definition, when we consider the mess that some of the supposedly smartest economists have led our world. Earlier in March, Wall Street’s Moody’s Investor Service painted a gloomy picture of the finances of the Eastern Caribbean countries. In a Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) report, the bond-rating agency pointed out that Grenada had defaulted on repayment of loans in 2004 and 2013 and that St Kitts/Nevis had done so in 2011.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua - Marijuana has always been on the banned list of drugs. It has been in use for thousands of years. In Jamaica, it is known as ganja, and its cultivation and use have been forbidden by law. Associated with the ganja, is the chillum pipe that is used for filtering the smoke through water. Here in Antigua & Barbuda, as in the United States of America, the cultivation and use of ganja are forbidden by law. It is expected that in a democracy, there would be arguments presented that would embrace the medical use of the plant.
WASHINGTON, CMC – Antigua and Barbuda says it is pleased with the role it played in the conclusion of the negotiations for two draft conventions dealing with racism and discrimination which will be adopted by the Organization of American States (OAS) in Guatemala this week. Antigua and Barbuda diplomat, Joy-Dee Davis Lake, chaired the Working Group that concluded negotiations on the draft Inter American Convention on Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance and a draft Inter American Convention Against All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance. “Mr.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – The president of the Antigua & Barbuda Bar Association (ABBA) has rejected the notion by former Prime Minister Lester Bird that Caribbean courts appear to be leaning towards political leaders. Speaking on OBSERVER media’s Big Issues programme on Sunday, Arthur Thomas decried the ex-PM’s belief and defended what he purports to be the integrity of local, as well as regional courts.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Newly installed Chairman of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Authority, Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer, yesterday, welcomed efforts to boost economic growth through private sector development across the region. Speaking at the opening of the 57th Meeting of the Authority, Spencer told his colleagues the approach taken in years past, fell short of what is necessary to make the sector an engine of growth.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for a higher level of bilateral-friendly co-operation between his country and Antigua & Barbuda. He made the appeal over the weekend, while meeting with Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer. A report on Chinese news site Xinhuanet.com indicated Spencer and the Chinese leader had talks on Saturday during President Xi’s three-day state visit to Trinidad.