Search Results for: Trinidad and Tobago
85 results out of 85 results found for 'Trinidad and Tobago'.
CARIBBEAN FINANCIAL PROFESSIONALS HELP CRITICAL REGIONAL TOURISM SECTOR SURVIVE COVID-19
From bringing traditionally outsourced services in house to right-sizing staff, Caribbean financial professionals advising the region’s critically important tourism sector are making tough decisions to keep businesses afloat and redundancies to a minimum during Covid-19.
ACCA members speaking to A&B, however testified to solidarity among workers, clients and suppliers – and the resilience of a region used to disaster, albeit usually through extreme weather.…
HOME-GROWN CARIBBEAN BEAUTY PRODUCT MANUFACTURERS GROW INTO DOMESTIC MARKETS AND EYE EXPORT TRADES
Entrepreneurship abounds across the diverse island nations of the Caribbean where small, independently-owned beauty product businesses thrive and have been successfully vying for space alongside major international brands in pharmacies, boutiques and family-owned stores alike.
What many manufacturers lack in start-up capital, they make up for in innovation and close proximity to a wealth of organic, raw materials that are finding new favour with modern, discerning consumers at home, with an eye to developing export sales.…
AML/CFT HIGHER LEARNING AND TRAINING STILL DEVELOPING AND MERGING - INTERNATIONALLY ACCEPTED MODELS YET TO COALESCE
ANTI-money laundering maybe a career that financial and legal professionals increasingly follow, but the training and qualification structure for AML/CFT is still emerging and solidifying, and there are doubts whether it will ever coalesce into a formal global structure, akin to FATF recommendations.…
FATF DECIDES IRAN MUST FACE FULL FINANCIAL RESTRICTIONS OVER AML FAILURES
THE FINANCIAL Action Task Force (FATF) has said that Iran’s failure to implement AML/CFT controls means that member countries and their financial institutions should consider taking all the precautions mandated by its guidance for high risk ML states.
Its February 19-21 plenary said that Iran still needed to remove an exemption for controls on designated terror groups’ financing when such organisations are “attempting to end foreign occupation, colonialism and racism” – which is taken to include groups opposing Israel.…
CLOSURE OF TRINIDAD & TOBAGO REFINERY SHAKES UP TWIN ISLAND STATE’S OIL INDUSTRY
THE CLOSURE in November of the only oil refinery in Trinidad & Tobago, after 101 years of producing fuel in this Caribbean twin-island state, has cost thousands of jobs, impacting a large part of the nation’s economy. It means that this republic, which still possesses substantial oil and gas reserves, must now import gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel. …
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO BANKING BODY NOW WANTS 2017 BILL PASSED TO REPAIR COUNTRY’S TAX REPUTATION
Trinidad & Tobago has a problem regarding tax transparency, one that its financial sector and government want to go away. The Caribbean twin-island state remains the only country that is a member of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes Global Forum that is listed as totally non-compliant with its rules – see https://www.oecd.org/tax/transparency/exchange-of-information-on-request/ratings/.…
ACCA QUALIFIED FD HAS FOUND HIS PROFESSIONAL HOME IN MAJOR CARIBBEAN CONGLOMERATE
THE ACCA-qualified group finance director for the largest conglomerate in Trinidad & Tobago and a key player in the Caribbean region – the ANSA McAL group – has aligned his personal professional ambitions with his company’s goal of sturdy sustained growth.…
EU ROUND UP – EU TO ESTABLISH NEW ANTI-CYBERCRIME ORGANISATIONS
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is expanding its network of cyber-crime expertise, with a view to beefing up intelligence, protections and responses to online criminal attacks, including frauds such as identity theft, as well as hacking.
EU member states and the European Parliament are to start talks establishing from January 2021 a European Cybersecurity Industrial, Technology and Research Centre, pooling European investment in cybersecurity research, technology and industrial development.…
EU PLANS BLACKLISTING OF AMERICAN TERRITORIES OVER AML/CFT FAILURES
THE EUROPEAN Commission has included four American external territories – Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa – on a proposed blacklist of weak AML/CFT jurisdictions released today (Feb 13).
Brussels’ updated list includes 12 countries that are viewed with concern by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – the Bahamas, Botswana, North Korea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iran, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia and Yemen. …
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – BREXIT SPARKS CONCERN OVER RELATED EU IMPORT QUOTA REDUCTIONS
TRADING partners with the European Union (EU) are concerned about the EU cutting the size of low duty import quotas once Britain quits the bloc, which it is scheduled to do on March 28.
The EU has released detailed plans to reduce the amount of some goods it allows into the EU, to take account of Britain exiting the single European market.…
CARIBBEAN ACCOUNTING SECTOR READY TO HELP REGION ADAPT TO CLIMATE-BASED AND TECHNICAL CHALLENGES
From climate change to digitalisation, there is no shortage of economic challenges facing the small island states of the Caribbean, but the region’s accounting sector has the capacity to manage upcoming change.
For many such financial professionals, being a part of ACCA – which this year will mark its 20th in the region – is integral to progress.…
CARIBBEAN ACCOUNTING SECTOR READY TO HELP REGION ADAPT TO CLIMATE-BASED AND TECHNICAL CHALLENGES
From climate change to digitalisation, there is no shortage of economic challenges facing the small island states of the Caribbean, but the region’s accounting sector has the capacity to manage upcoming change.
For many such financial professionals, being a part of ACCA – which this year will mark its 20th in the region – is integral to progress.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – US-CHINA TRADE WAR HITS CONFECTIONERY EXPORTERS
AMERICAN confectioners may suffer from the latest tit-for-tat tariff exchange between the USA and China, with retaliatory duties from China targeting US confectionery exports. Many of these duties are high – at 25% – imposed from September 24 on US-made sugar; cocoa powder; milk powder; honey; jams; and more; plus 20% duties on US-made confectionery without cocoa; chewing gum; some chocolates; and more.…
HURRICANE IRMA PROMPTS RENEWAL WITHIN CARIBBEAN AIRPORTS
CONTRACTORS at Sint Maarten’s hurricane-battered airport are battling against the clock to complete major repairs by the start of the new tourist season in November.
Princess Juliana International Airport was one of several across the Caribbean pummeled by catastrophic Hurricane Irma in September 2017.…
UK BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP VOTE ALARMS OVERSEAS TERRITORIES
An amendment to a UK Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill requires the British government to impose such registers on its OTs by this deadline, if the local administrations have not created their own. The UK currently has the world’s only public beneficial ownership register – but it only covers England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – see http://ownershiptransparency.com/…
KNITWEAR PRODUCTION GROWS IN THE CARIBBEAN – BUT STARTING FROM A LOW BASE
KNITWEAR is a key part of the growth in clothing manufacturing that is becoming an important part of the economies of several Caribbean countries, providing thousands of jobs and producing apparel worn not only in the region but in the USA, Canada, Europe and elsewhere.…
UK BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP VOTE ALARMS OVERSEAS TERRITORIES
A VOTE by the UK parliament to insist that Britain’s overseas territories introduce publicly available beneficial ownership registers by December 31, 2020, has sparked anger and dismay within these autonomous, mainly small island, jurisdictions.
An amendment to a UK Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill requires the British government to impose such registers on its OTs by this deadline, if the local administrations have not created their own.…
ACCA-QUALIFIED CARIBBEAN AIRLINE BOSS STEERS HER COMPANY TOWARDS RECOVERY FROM MAJOR HURRICANE LOSSES
RUNNING a complex international air travel business that recovering from 2017’s devastating hurricane season, Caribbean airline boss Julie Reifer-Jones is having to draw on her near three decades’ experience in senior financial management.
Immaculately presented, in killer heels, Reifer-Jones FCCA is not just the first female CEO of Antigua-based airline LIAT, she is the only female CEO of any airline in the Caribbean.…
ORGANISED CRIME RAISES MONEY LAUNDERING CONCERNS IN VULNERABLE FINANCIAL CENTRE JAPAN
JAPAN’S long-standing exposure to organised crime groups such as the Yakuza means that however effective the country’s anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) systems maybe, they will continue to face sophisticated challenges.
Despite enhanced criminal and civil legislation targeting Japan’s underworld groups, such as the February 2000 Act on the Punishment of Organised Crimes and the March 2007 Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds (See part 4 at https://www.npa.go.jp/sosikihanzai/jafic/en/maneron_e/manetop_e.htm),…
EU COUNCIL DECISION TO DROP EIGHT COUNTRIES FROM TAX HAVEN BLACKLIST UNDER FIRE
EUROPEAN UNION (EU) finance ministers have agreed to remove eight jurisdictions, including much-criticised Panama that gave the world the ‘Panama Papers’ scandal, from the bloc’s tax haven blacklist, only a month after it was created.
A EU Council of Ministers statement said this decision, which has now been slated by members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and environmentalists, followed “commitments made” by the listed jurisdictions “to remedy EU concerns”.…
INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL ROUND UP – EU RELEASES TAX EVASION BLACK LIST
*The European Union (EU) Council of Ministers has published a blacklist of jurisdictions it thinks do not cooperate sufficiently with international efforts to reduce tax evasion. They are American Samoa, Bahrain, Barbados, Grenada, Guam, South Korea, Macau, the Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Namibia, Palau, Panama, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).…
EU COUNCIL ADOPTS CONTROVERSIAL MONEY LAUNDERING AND TAX FRAUD BLACKLIST
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers today (December 5) adopted a money laundering blacklist, bringing widespread criticism because the listing – designed to prevent tax fraud and evasion – only covers countries outside the 28-nation bloc. Despite the European Commission screening 92 jurisdictions worldwide, the final list of non-cooperative jurisdictions in taxation matters only contains 17 jurisdictions: American Samoa, Bahrain, Barbados, Grenada, Guam (another US territory), South Korea, Macau (a China special administrative region), the Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Namibia, Palau, Panama, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).…
CARIBBEAN ACCOUNTING BOSS TO PROMOTE CHANGE IN PROFESSION - ADDING VALUE NOT JUST CRUNCHING NUMERS
TRINIDADIAN accountant Anthony Pierre is clear that his major brief as the new president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean (ICAC) is to help build a cadre of “future-ready” professionals willing to cooperate across national borders within the region and be guided by international best practice.…
CARIBBEAN CALL FOR LOCALLY SOURCED ORGANIC PRODUCTS TO CHALLENGE IMPORTS OF BIG NAME BRANDS
THE CARIBBEAN may be a small and fragmented regional market but it is a hotbed of innovation in the personal care product industry, and a potential source of inspiration in formulation and ingredients for major brands.
Its island nations, politically independent and dependent territories, have long relied especially on the nearby USA for imports.…
OECD WELCOMES TAX INFORMATION EXCHANGE IMPROVEMENTS
A DETAILED report on tax from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) to G20 leaders meeting in Hamburg on July 7-8 has welcomed improvements by 17 jurisdictions to compliance with the OECD exchange of information on request (EOIR) standard since April 2016.…
TRINIDAD CNG CONVERSION PROGRAMME TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF CHEAP NATURAL GAS
Thanks to the introduction of a tax incentive scheme launched by the government of Trinidad & Tobago, auto converters and dealers in the country are increasingly talking up Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as a clean auto fuel for vehicles on the twin island Caribbean state.…
CHILE’S SKIN CARE MARKET ROARS AHEAD AS CONSUMERS DISCOVER VALUE OF FACE PRODUCTS
THE FACIAL skin care market in Chile has enjoyed double digit growth for over a decade, and is expected to continue expanding. Although this market is expected to grow at a slower rate this year, market research firm Canadean Ltd has forecast an average annual growth rate of 11% between 2013 and 2018.…
ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS STRENGTHENING IN CARIBBEAN AND LATIN AMERICA – BUT MORE WORK NEEDED
IN the 1970s and 1980s, the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean did not have a comprehensively robust reputation for sound financial management. Many Caribbean island states had newly emerged from colonialism, finding their way as independent countries. And many Latin American countries were riven by social discord, even civil war, with many under military rule.…
CHRISTINE SAHADEO – FORMER TRINIDAD FINANCE MINISTER UNDERLINES IMPORTANCE OF MENTORING IN TRAINING
WHEN the Trinidad & Tobago government in 2003 decided to close down much of the Caribbean country’s 300-year old sugar cane industry, it was described by detractors as one of the most politically ambitious moves in the history of the twin-island republic.…
DIVERSE CARIBBEAN FOOD CULTURE CREATES MYRIAD OF CONFECTIONERY INGREDIENTS
THE CARIBBEAN is maybe the most culturally diverse region in the world and this has been reflected in its colourful, tasty and varied cuisine. So it is no surprise that the region’s confectionery sector is innovative, drawing on unusual combinations of ingredients that create tasty products that could serve as inspiration for companies around the world.…
MAJOR TRINIDAD SCANDAL WRAPS UP - BUT WITH USD3.5 BILLION SPENT AND NO ARRESTS
A MAJOR inquiry into a financial collapse that rocked the English Caribbean – of Trinidad & Tobago-based CL Financial Limited and various associated companies, and the Hindu Credit Union Co-operative Society Limited – has reported. A special correspondent looks at the fall-out from Port of Spain.…
MAJOR TRINIDAD SCANDAL WRAPS UP - BUT WITH USD3.5 BILLION SPENT AND NO ARRESTS
A MAJOR inquiry into a financial collapse that rocked the English Caribbean – of Trinidad & Tobago-based CL Financial Limited and various associated companies, and the Hindu Credit Union Co-operative Society Limited – has reported. A special correspondent looks at the fall-out from Port of Spain.…
IN A LARGE COMPLEX BUSINESS, KEEPING ON TOP OF THE DETAILS IS CRITICAL, SAYS TRINIDAD FD
EVERYTHING about Aneal Maharaj smacks of the immaculate. From his finely-tailored business suit to his Toastmaster style enunciation, to the belief that “sweating the small stuff” is an indispensable attribute of any successful business executive, there is an obvious attention to precision which betrays a professional outlook staked on getting the equations right.…
EU TO MOVE GOALPOSTS ON TAX EVASION, WHILE OECD EXPANDS GLOBAL TAX INFORMATION EXCHANGE SYSTEM
THE EUROPEAN Commission is attempting to move the legal boundary where tax avoidance becomes tax evasion, criminalising some aggressive tax planning that has caused controversy across Europe. The move is one a number of recent practical tax and anti-fraud law reforms that Brussels has been pushing to help tax authorities in the European Union (EU) collect reasonable levels of revenue.…
A widely-quoted truism that gained currency during the global financial crisis was American financier Warren Buffett’s dictum: “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked”.
And this might perhaps be most true of a financial collapse that rocked the English Caribbean, that of Trinidad & Tobago-based CL Financial Limited and various associated companies, and also of the Hindu Credit Union Co-operative Society Limited.…
EP APPROVED OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS SAFETY LAW
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has now formally approved a new European Union (EU) offshore oil and gas drilling directive, designed to prevent accidents such as the Deepwater Horizon spill happening in coastal EU sea waters.
These new rules will require oil and gas firms to prove they can cover potential liabilities from accidents and submit major hazard reports and emergency response plans to regulators before drilling operations start.…
COLOMBIA GOVERNMENT RESPONDS TO SMUGGLED STEEL ALLEGATIONS
A growth in alleged steel smuggling into Colombia has sparked concern by steel workers unions, who have successfully pressured the government to take action against illicit trades. The Colombian authorities are investigating recent steel imports from China and Mexico, fearing they may have breached the country’s trading laws.…
OAS’ CICAD IS KEY AML PLAYER IN THE AMERICAS
The Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), a technical agency of the Organisation of American States (OAS), is playing an increasingly influential role in the Americas in terms of fighting drug-trade linked money laundering. Specifically, CICAD has a central role in the unfolding of the Hemispheric Plan of Action on Drugs 2011-2015 which was adopted by the OAS in 2011, and includes key anti-money launderingAML components.…
DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL COSMETICS PLAYERS SEEK TO PROFIT FROM GROWING PHILIPPINES MARKET
INTERNATIONAL and domestic cosmetics brands are capitalising on strong economic growth in the Philippines, which at 95 million has the 12th biggest population in the world. It is also among the Next Eleven economies highlighted by Goldman Sachs with a high potential of becoming, along with the BRICS, the world’s largest economies in the 21st century.…
BLUE CARIBBEAN SKIES BECKON BRITISH NURSES
BY GEMMA HANDY, IN PROVIDENCIALES, TURKS & CAICOS, AND POORNA RODRIGO
SWAPPING the grey British skies for the sun-soaked shores of the Caribbean might sound like an easy decision to make.
For 56-year-old nurse Anne Males, there was some initial trepidation at how she would cope living on a tiny island with a population of just 25,000, more than an hour’s flight from the nearest major American city.…
STANFORD CASE EXPOSES LATEST WEAKNESS OF FINANCIAL CONTROLS IN SMALL ISLAND JUSRISDICTIONS
BY LEAH GERMAIN
THE GOLDEN rule of investments has and continues to be – if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. The most recent example of this advice being disregarded causing a high profile court case involves R Allen Stanford, Texan-banker and former multi-millionaire.…
STANFORD CASE SHOWS BRASS NECK FRAUDS CAN WORK, EVEN IF THEY LACK SOPHISTICATION
BY LEAH GERMAIN
WITH what was once an estimated net worth of over USD2 billion, R. Allen Stanford was once revered as one of the wealthiest men in America. Yet a Texas court has now heard in detail that his wealth, which he displayed in both opulent and lavish ways, was derived from ill-gotten gains.…
PEOPLE FIRST APPROACH WORKS IN THE CARIBBEAN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CARIBBEAN is a delightful place to live, if you like people. And business reflects this island region’s human scale: commercial relationships work better with real personal relationships, cemented with time and emotional investment.
Buying a newspaper usually requires a quick chat with a shopkeeper.…
FIFA MIRED IN CORRUPTION CLAIMS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
INTERNATIONAL football federation FIFA is struggling to protect its reputation against corruption claims sparking the provisional suspension by its ethics committee of vice-president Jack A Warner, from Trinidad, and Qatari executive committee member Mohamed bin Hammam. Both were accused of trying to bribe Caribbean Football Union (CFU) members for votes in an upcoming FIFA presidential vote.…
INTERNATIONAL CONFECTIONERY NEWS ROUND-UP - EU FIGHTS SUGAR SHORTAGES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
HIGH sugar prices and tight supplies are a constant worry for confectionery manufacturers this year, and the European Union (EU) has been trying to keep these problems under control. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has estimated that global prices rose 81.4% from last July (2010) to this January (2011) and the EU has taken action.…
PEER REVIEW BEGINS OF G20 BANK INFORMATION EXCHANGES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
PEER reviews have begun assessing the banking and tax transparency systems promoted by the G20 group of nations following the international contagion of financial problems sparked by the credit crunch. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development’s (OECD) Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information will undertake the process.…
CANADA AND INDIA SECURE NUCLEAR COOPERATION DEAL
BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA and KEITH NUTHALL
JUST two weeks after Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited India, he and Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh have announced that they have struck a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement. Strangely this revelation came outside both countries, in Trinidad & Tobago, where both men were participating in the 2009 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.…
TOBACCO TRAVELLER - COLLECTION 2009 - CUBA
BY LIZ HALL
THE SPREAD of smoking bans, the economic crisis and the flattening of Cuba’s tobacco crops in August and September 2008 by hurricanes Ike and Gustav have taken their toll on sales of Cuban cigars.
Demand worldwide was expected to be down 15% in 2009, according to a report from the Cuban National Statistics Office (ONE) published in October 2009.…
NEW DRUG PRECURSOR INITIATIVE LAUNCHED IN AMERICAS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INITIATIVE boosting the ability of Latin American and Caribbean countries to prevent precursor chemicals from being diverted from legitimate uses to illegal narcotic production has been launched. The UN Office in Drugs and Crime and European Commission’s three-year PRELAC project will cover: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Trinidad & Tobago and Venezuela.…
CARIBBEAN STATES LOOK TO GREEN POWER TO UNDERPIN THEIR ENERGY SECURITY
BY JAMES FULLER
SMALL island states are always vulnerable in energy sustainability terms, but the growth in renewable energy technologies is giving them a better shot at security of supply. The Caribbean is a case in point, where green energy technologies are being explored across the region.…
TRINIDAD PUSHES ON WITH OIL AND GAS PROCESSING EXPANSION PLANS, DESPITE ECONOMIC GLOOM
BY JAMES FULLER
WHILE the global recession is hitting profits in the oil and gas sector worldwide, the Caribbean’s key producer Trinidad & Tobago remains bullish about the industry bringing it long term financial and economic stability. Indeed, the twin-island country’s minister of energy and energy industries Conrad Enill said this month that both a fifth liquefied natural gas (LNG) train and a new oil refinery are projects which are still firmly on the table for the Caribbean energy powerhouse.…
PROFESSIONAL NURSING IN TRINIDAD CAN BE TOUGH, BUT THERE'S ALWAYS THE BEACH
BY JAMES FULLER
THE TWIN island republic of Trinidad & Tobago is many people’s idea of a tropical idyll but Sunita Kissoon, senior nurse/midwife at the Gulf View Medical Centre in San Fernando, says medical care in her country is fundamentally lacking when compared to the UK.…
FUEL RETAIL SECTORS CAN BE LOW PRIORITY FOR OIL-RICH CARIBBEAN AND LATIN AMERICAN STATES
BY PACIFICA GODDARD, in Caracas; MARVIN HOKSTAM, in Paramaribo, JAMES FULLER, in Port of Spain
IT may seem like a good thing for fuel retailers to be based in country that is sitting on a bounty of fuel reserves. But that is not necessarily the case, as many Latin American and Caribbean retailers can testify.…
TRINIDAD MAKES PROGRESS IN FIGHTING ITS HOME GROWN ISLAMIC TERROR GROUP
BY JAMES FULLER
MANY nations have has to review their anti-terrorist financing systems and laws since the September 11 attacks in America, with its implications stretching around the world, even to regions usually untouched by political terror, such as the Caribbean.…
SMALL CARIBBEAN JURISDICTIONS STRUGGLE TO EFFECTIVELY REGULATE A CASINO SECTOR VULNERABLE TO MONEY LAUNDERERS
BY SUZANNE KOELEGA and JUHEL BROWNE
"CASINOS are an important part of the development of the Caribbean tourist sector, yet they hold a particular attraction to money launderers. Casinos provide the venues for large flows of cash, which launderers can utilise to disguise the true origins of their criminal proceeds."…
LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES STRUGGLE TO COPE WITH OIL PRICE RISES
BY KENCHO WANGDI, in Thimphu, Bhutan; JUHEL BROWNE, in Port of Spain, Trinidad; BILL CORCORAN, in Johannesburg; and KEITH NUTHALL
THE RISING price in oil has hit the prosperity of many companies, communities and countries, but it is the world’s poorest people, living in what the United Nations calls least developed countries that are suffering the most.…
GLOBAL - UN-sponsored responsible business education initiative takes off
By Keith Nuthall
A UNITED Nations-sponsored global initiative to encourage business schools to teach and promote social and environmentally responsible commercial practices has gathered a critical mass of support. More than 100 business schools worldwide have now signed up to the Principles for Responsible Management Initiative.…
ICAO RAISES CONCERN ABOUT EASTERN CARIBBEAN AIR TRAFFIC SAFETY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SAFETY certification of airports in the eastern Caribbean requires significant reform, an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) report has stressed. Drawing on Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) assessments, it raised concerns about airports in Trinidad & Tobago; Jamaica; Antigua & Barbuda; Grenada; St Kitts & Nevis; St.…
BREAK UP OF NETHERLANDS ANTILLES WILL POSE TOUGH CHALLENGE ON FIGHTING CARIBBEAN MONEY LAUNDERING
BY SUZANNE KOELEGA, in Sint Maarten, Netherlands Antilles, JAMES FULLER, in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, and KEITH NUTHALL
A MAJOR shake up is looming in the political organisation of the Caribbean, with the impending dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles federation, and the creation of separate political units for its composite islands Curaçao, Bonaire, Sint Maarten, Saba and Sint Eustatius (Statia).…
CARIBBEAN CRIME ACADEMY WILL HELP REGION PREYED UPON BY ORGANISED CRIMINALS
BY SUZANNE KOELEGA, in Sint Maarten
AS leaders of various Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries and US President George Bush debated regional security in Washington DC in June, Caribbean nations continue to struggle with serious commercial crime that threatens their regional stability.…
DUTCH QUEEN OPENS REVAMPED SINT MAARTEN PRINCESS JULIANA AIRPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL, in Sint Maarten
A NEW Caribbean airport terminal has been opened to secure Sint Maarten’s Princess Juliana International Airport’s (PJIA) role as a regional hub. Formally launched by the Netherlands’ Queen Beatrix November 10, the airport serves the world’s smallest territory split between two sovereign states (Dutch Sint Maarten and French Saint Martin).…
CARIBBEAN FOOD INDUSTRY LAUNCHES NEW CONFECTIONARY AND SWEET FOOD PRODUCTS
BY WESLEY GIBBINGS, in Port of Spain, Trinidad
THE WHITTLING away of preferential export markets for traditional Caribbean agricultural production has sparked economic pain in the region, but it has also generated innovation in the form of new confectionary and sweet baked products, available for export.…
CRICKET WORLD CUP SPARKS CARIBBEAN PAINT BOOM
BY JAMES FULLER, in Port of Spain
CRICKETERS and illegally-licensed drivers are two of the more unusual factors currently affecting the Caribbean paint market.
The impending Cricket World Cup, to be held in the West Indies during March and April 2007, has spawned a flurry of construction activity with resultant benefits for the paint industry.…
CARIBBEAN FOOD MANUFACTURERS PUSH TO DIVERSIFY
BY WESLEY GIBBINGS, in Port of Spain
TIME-WAS that food production in the Caribbean was dominated by commodities, with sugar and bananas being king and queen of island economies. Protected from the rigours of world markets by age-old ties to current or former colonial markets, these cash crop supplies remained largely unchanged for centuries.…
HAITI GETS OIL-PRICE HELP FROM CARIBBEAN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CARICOM Caribbean economic community has announced Haiti can access the Trinidad & Tobago Petroleum Fund, established in 2004 by the oil-exporting twin island nation to help neighbouring countries deal with high international oil prices.
ENDS…
COMMONWEALTH MONEY LAUNDERING FEATURE, ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING ORGANISATIONS SERIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THERE is a large and growing list of regional money laundering organisations, with formal or informal links with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), so a question mark could hang over why the Commonwealth is getting involved in fighting dirty money.…
CFATF - CARIBBEAN REGIONAL ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING ORGANISATION
BY WESLEY GIBBINGS, in Port of Spain, Trinidad
WITH its multiple small jurisdictions, offshore tax havens and proximity to both drug producing countries in Latin America and the United States, the Caribbean has always been a focus of global anti-money laundering efforts.…
TRINIDAD UNIVERSITY, UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES COMPETITION, CARIBBEAN HIGHER EDUCATION
BY WESLEY GIBBINGS, in Port of Spain
THE NEW national university for the Caribbean archipelago of Trinidad & Tobago has distributed 500 degrees and diplomas and five honorary doctorates even before construction of a main campus building has been completed. The apparent anomaly is partially explained by the fact that the new University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) has assimilated the teaching staff, building and student population of the now-defunct, Trinidad-government Institute of Technology (TTIT) back in 2003.…
CARIBBEAN FEATURE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ROLE of the Caribbean as a staging point for ill-gotten gains goes back to the trans-Atlantic misadventures of the first European ships over 400 years ago. It would appear some habits die hard. Wesley Gibbings reports from Port of Spain, Trinidad.…
CARIBBEAN TOBACCO INDUSTRY FEATURE
BY WESLEY GIBBINGS
THE RELATIONSHIP between Caribbean people and tobacco could have at one time been described as virtually umbilical, with important outward feeders to Europe and other parts of the world. Tobago, the smaller unit of the twin-island state of Trinidad & Tobago, bears the name of the instrument used by native Amerindians 500 years ago to smoke Burly blends.…
TRINIDAD FUND
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CARIBBEAN’S leading oil and gas producer Trinidad & Tobago says that an oil fund facility established for neighbouring small states is growing at US$4.1 million monthly. The money is transferred from the country’s oil revenues and is earmarked to help its Caribbean customers fight poverty while petroleum prices remain high.…
CARIBBEAN COURT OF JUSTICE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SUMMIT meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has decided to formally inaugurate the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on April 16 at Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. This is despite the Privy Council ruling that Jamaica had broken its own constitution in passing a law replacing its Law Lords as a final court of appeal with the CCJ.…
NAFTA CANADA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
COUNTERVAILING and antidumping duties imposed by the United States on Canadian exports of carbon and certain alloy steel wire rod have been undermined by a strongly critical ruling a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) panel.
US International Trade Commission (ITC) inquiries leading to the tariffs’ imposition in 2002 were challenged by Canada’s Ivaco Inc and Ivaco Rolling Mills Inc.…
EU-CARIBBEAN DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) and 16 Caribbean countries have launched negotiations to strike a trade deal by 2008, that should boost Jamaican bauxite exports into Europe. The mineral is already the eastern Caribbean’s largest non-food export to the EU, (eight per cent of all the region’s foreign sales being aluminium-related products – worth around Euro 223 million in 2003).…
EU-CARIBBEAN TALKS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) and 16 Caribbean countries have launched negotiations to strike a 2008 trade deal, that should boost rum exports into Europe. The spirit is already the eastern Caribbean’s largest export to the EU, (11 per cent of sales – worth around Euro 320 million in 2003), with import quota restrictions removed from 2000.…
INSECT CURTAIN
BY MONICA DOBIE
AMERICAN researchers have developed a ‘curtain of air’ system that could keep disease-carrying insects from boarding civil aeroplanes. The technology, created by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in the United States, is a high velocity fan system used in passenger walkways that excludes 99 per cent of mosquitoes and flies.…
CARIBBEAN FEATURES
BY MARK WILSON
AWASH with recently-passed legislation and newly-established Financial Investigation Units, the small nations of the Caribbean have transformed their money laundering controls since the mid-1990s. In 2000, five Caribbean island jurisdictions made up one-third of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list of fifteen non-cooperative countries and territories, each of them with ‘serious systemic problems,’ in the words of a FATF review published on June 22 of that year.…
DRINKS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS
BY KEITH NUTHALL in Paris, ALAN OSBORN in London, MARK ROWE in Singapore, ED PETERS and DON GASPER in Hong Kong, RICHARD HURST in Johannesburg, MONICA DOBIE and PHILIP FINE in Montreal, MATTHEW BRACE in Brisbane and ALEX SMAILES in Port of Spain.…
SUGAR PANEL CREATED
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A DISPUTE proceedings panel has now been established at the World Trade Organisation to rule on the legality of the European Union’s sugar export subsidies. Australia, Brazil and Thailand allege the handouts break world trade laws. Barbados, Canada, China, Colombia, Jamaica, Mauritius, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago and the US reserved their right to participate.…
SUGAR PANEL CREATED
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A DISPUTE proceedings panel has now been established at the World Trade Organisation to rule on the legality of the European Union’s sugar export subsidies. Australia, Brazil and Thailand allege the handouts break world trade laws. Barbados, Canada, China, Colombia, Jamaica, Mauritius, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago and the US reserved their right to participate.…
HARRY POTTER - CARIBBEAN
BY ALEX SMALES
IN the Caribbean’s key capital of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, the branch of six-outlet chain RIK bookstores told the Bookseller it had sold more than “1,000 copies on the opening day,” with customers queuing for sales.…
TRINIDAD CRUISE LINERS
BY ALEX SMAILES, in Port of Spain, Trinidad
BRITISH cruise ships are planning to return to Trinidad after pulling out due to a report of planned terrorist attacks against UK nationals from Islamic groups on the island. The two companies – P&O cruises and Princess Cruises – made the decision after information from the British Foreign and Commonwealth office (FCO).…
MARITIME BORDERS
Keith Nuthall
A SPECIAL conference on settling a number of maritime border disputes in the Caribbean has been launched, which could help develop international law regarding the effect of uninhabited island on establishing exclusive economic zones.
One wrangle is between Venezuela and the Caribbean island state of St Kitts and Nevis, which has been protesting about maritime boundary treaties concluded by the south American state regarding the so-called Isla Aves; they grant the islands full territorial sea status, including an exclusive economic zone, or continental shelf.…
TALISMAN ENERGY
BY MONICA DOBIE
TALISMAN Energy Inc. are in talks with Asian companies and Saudi princes interested in buying the firm’s controversial Sudanese oil assets, reports the London Financial Times.
It says Jim Buckee, the companies’ CEO, claimed “issues would be resolved by Christmas,” and that projects in Malaysia and Trinidad would replace Sudanese oil production, which contributes 11 per cent, of Talisman’s worldwide output.…
TALISMAN TRINIDAD
BY MONICA DOBIE
TALISMAN Energy Inc. has announced that it has made a substantial oil discovery in Trinidad, which could give the Canadian oil giant another profitable operations area. The company said that a 14-foot section of a 933-foot hydrocarbon column had produced 3,000 barrels-a-day in testing.…