The View From Europe

David Jessop can be contacted at david.jessop@caribbean-council.org Previous columns can be found at www.caribbean-council.org

The view from Europe As the weeks pass, it is becoming ever more clear that if the region is to find a viable short to medium-term way out of the recession it needs to have a far clearer long-term understanding of tourism’s place in driving and sustaining future Caribbean economic activity.

Some time in the next two to three years the global recession will end.

The View from Europe Is it possible for markets to serve the needs of the people as much as those of companies and shareholders?

The View From Europe For the most part, the sovereign nations of the Caribbean tend to look past their near neighbours in the non-independent Carib-bean.

The View From Europe Nearly two decades ago, a former Caribbean minister with an unconventional background would try to shock those that he met into recognising that agriculture in the region was dying and that it was the services sector that represented the future.

In the 1960s the Caribbean’s diaspora had a distinctive identity.  It predominantly comprised migrants who had grown up or been born in the region, understood it well and maintained a close relationship with family and friends at home.

The View From Europe A few days ago I was asked a question by the host of one of Jamaica’s morning talk shows.

The View From Europe By David Jessop (Executive Director of the Caribbean Council for Europe)In Europe and North America, governments and regulatory authorities are still debating how best to manage the behaviour of  financial institutions that have become so large that should they fail, their operations would pose a systemic risk to the nations in which they are located.

The View From Europe In a matter of days, a task force of five Caricom leaders will meet in Jamaica to discuss a regional approach to the global economic and financial crisis.

The View From Europe   A few days ago Britain’s Finance Bill received royal assent and in so doing passed into law changes to Air Passenger Duty (APD).

The law suit which threatens a nation It must be rare if not unique for a law suit to threaten the viability of a whole nation.

The View from Europe By David Jessop (Executive Director of the Caribbean Council for Europe) How should Caribbean governments seek to support tourism during a global recession?

In the latter part of this year, government leaders from around the world will meet for what the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, has described as an “unprecedented” global summit.

The View From EuropeIn a few days time, Caribbean Heads of Government will meet in Georgetown, Guyana.

The Caribbean diaspora in the UK flexes its muscles For years now there has been talk about the manner in which the Caribbean might mobilise its sizeable silent army, the diaspora.

Is growth limitless? From time to time, leaders from the financial services industry are invited by a well known intermediary to brief prime ministers and key ministers from the Caribbean. 

What has happened to the Doha Round? David Jessop is the Executive Director of the Caribbean Council for Europe What has happened to the Doha Round at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the multilateral trade negotiation that was meant to encourage development through liberalising trade in goods and services?

Across the Caribbean, from Guyana to Belize, once peaceful and well ordered societies have become hosts to narcotics trafficking, money laundering, extortion, gun crime, kidnapping, robbery with violence, and more recently, those who would support acts of international terrorism.

What will be the impact of normalised US-Cuba relations on the region?