Green taxes could damage aviation and Caribbean tourism
On October 6, Juliane Kokott, an Advocate General of the European Court of Justice handed down an opinion in a case that brings aviation, the environment, taxation and sovereignty face to face. In doing so she potentially put the US and many other concerned nations on a collision course with Europe. In accepting that the [...]
Bad news for the Caribbean on
Despite scientific evidence to the contrary, scepticism about climate change appears to be gaining wider global credence. This in part has been fuelled by the discovery in 2009 that a very small number of scientists manipulated evidence to exaggerate the extent of climate change and more recently by the issue having become highly politicized in [...]
Caribbean nations could become the beneficiaries of long-term Chinese support
Two separate developments in the last week, both involving China, demonstrate the fundamental ways in which international relationships are changing. The first involved China subtly suggesting that it might provide financial support for Eurozone economies in difficulty. The second was the announcement at the opening of the Third China-Caribbean Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum in [...]
The legacy of September 9, 2001
A decade has passed since the world came face to face with Islamic terrorism. Most remember vividly what they saw on their television screens on September 9, 2001 or experienced. But aside from this lasting global sense of involvement, it is far from clear whether the event in itself really changed the world or whether, [...]
The Caribbean needs to defend its aviation interests with as much energy as it once defended sugar and bananas
Aviation and tourism are vital components of the Caribbean economy. They provide employment, foreign exchange and taxes which in turn support schools, hospitals, national security and much more. Despite this, it seems not to be widely understood outside of tourism ministries and organisations that the industry requires defending externally with as much energy and passion [...]
The Caribbean should give some thought to whether there is any value in concluding the Doha round
Anyone who has read the recent pronouncement by the usually optimistic Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Pascal Lamy, cannot help but conclude that there is no longer the global political will to deliver an all-embracing deal on trade liberalisation. In an apparent recognition of this and the danger that he sees for [...]
A wider range of independent tourism statistics needs to be developed
Trying to conduct a debate through the media on an issue of technical complexity is not wise. The recent brief public spat between the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) and Guyana’s President, Bharrat Jagdeo, on whether the problems faced by tourism were caused by the taxes imposed by regional governments or by the industry’s [...]
The debt the region owes to President Chávez is enormous
For years, many in the US and Europe have been wishing that Venezuela’s mercurial President, Hugo Chávez, would depart and a more pro-western leader take his place. But now, paradoxically, some of his harshest critics appear to be having second thoughts as the possible regional implications of his illness become apparent. The Venezuelan President’s confirmation [...]
The ACP needs to define a purpose if it is to have a future
Has the African Caribbean and Pacific Group of nations (the ACP) a future beyond 2020, the date that the Cotonou Convention expires? Judging from the responses to this and related questions at a recent European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) conference in Maastricht, finding a consensus may be far from easy. At the start [...]
Finding national solutions to long-term economic challenges may drive the region apart
Across Europe, many governments are in financial difficulty. From Greece to Ireland, Portugal and Spain, public expenditure cuts, austerity and retrenchment coupled with low levels of growth and rising inflation are creating significant political problems. In response, governments are increasing taxes, cutting public expenditure, keeping interest rates low, and divesting themselves of an ever wider [...]
Turks and Caicos is on the way back to an elected government
Ever so slowly the Turks and Caicos Islands are on their way back to having an elected government and a full constitution. Ignored by much of the media, a constitutional conference took place in London on June 15/16 that will result in the adaptation of the islands’ 2006 constitution that Britain partially suspended in March [...]
Trade cannot be facilitated if officials use impenetrable language
Sometimes it seems as if officials are engaged in a game that involves having those they are most meant to help, guess about their intentions. Last week a meeting of the EU-Cariforum Trade and Development Committee (TDC) took place in Barbados. This is the second highest body of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) – the [...]
Caribbean governments, private sector need new approaches to diaspora
In the middle of next month Jamaica will hold its annual diaspora conference. The event ought to be a moment of solidarity as the country prepares for its fiftieth anniversary of independence, its likely success at the Olympics and a positive world image. However, the signs are that this event may prove fractious, party political [...]
It is probably time to give up on trying to save Doha Round
On April 29, the so called Doha Development Round of the World Trade Organisation all but died. Its demise went almost unremarked, with little or no media interest, and with few to publicly question the enormous amount of time, intellectual effort and money that has gone into the process since it first started in November [...]
A new Cuban model of governance and economic organisation endorsed
For much of the last week the world’s media have focussed on the outcome of Cuba’s Sixth Communist Party Congress which took place in Havana from April 16 to 19. Most of their coverage focussed on the time limits that will now be placed on the leadership’s period in office, the right in future of Cubans to [...]