PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Chairman of the cash-strapped regional airline, LIAT, is calling for a meeting of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders early in 2013 to deal with transportation problems in the region.
In a paper to the meeting of major shareholders of the Antigua-based airline over the weekend, Jean Holder said that the summit should be convened to discuss regional air transportation and its critical role in supporting the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).
The CSME allows for the free movement of goods, services, skills and people across the 15-member CARICOM grouping and Holder, a former senior executive of the region's tourism industry, said "the focus of the meeting must not be about blaming the airlines which have given a total of 200 years of service to the region and the countries which have subsidised the rest of the region.