David Jessop

Until relatively recently, almost all Caribbean economic thinking has been focused on the encouragement of investment onshore, with the emphasis on commodities, manufacturing, tourism, financial services and artisanal industries such as fisheries. 

Russia’s de facto annexation of Crimea marks a twenty-first century turning point, carrying with it as many messages for the Caribbean as it does for Europe and the United States.

Across the Caribbean concern is being expressed about the implications of civil unrest in Venezuela and what this might mean for the long term future of PetroCaribe, the concessionary agreement which underpins most Caribbean economies through the supply of oil at concessionary prices on deferred terms.

Forget the movie Braveheart and the passion and nationalism associated with the long-standing desire by many Scots for independence from the English. 

In the last few years almost every significant Caribbean country has announced that they are upgrading their port facilities and preparing to compete to attract the larger post-panamax vessels that from some time in 2015 will be transiting an enlarged Panama Canal.

Each year since 1971 the powerful and influential of the world, the global super elite, have met in Davos in Switzerland to discuss the challenges facing the world economy.

The President of the European Commission (EC), José Manuel Barroso, has confirmed that Europe is presently in the process of debating a significant change in its policy towards Cuba.

In little over a week’s time the second summit of CELAC, The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños) will take place in Havana.

Two years ago I suggested in this column that few Caribbean governments or companies were taking seriously the threat posed by cyber attack and cyber crime.

The Caribbean is not short of ideas. Week after week, meetings take place; reports are published; regional initiatives are announced; speeches are made, columns written, and papers presented.

Governments in North America and Europe are beginning to look more closely at citizenship for investment schemes, after a small but growing number of incidents have raised concerns about who passports are being issued to.

Seemingly out of the blue, trade ministers, meeting just over a week ago in Bali, formally agreed for the first time in nearly 20 years, a new multilateral trade agreement.

Far from moving towards a resolution, the inter-regional dispute over a Constitutional Court ruling in the Dominican Republic has become polarised, with Caricom, the Dominican Republic and Haiti taking seemingly entrenched and antagonistic positions.

On November 13 the Xinhua News Agency, the official press agency of China, carried a report that indicated an important and seemingly strategic change in US policy towards the Caribbean and Latin America.

Last week the United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, spelt out a new US policy for the Americas.

In February of this year Cuba’s President, Raul Castro, said that he will step down in 2018.

In the early part of October governments attending the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Assembly in Montreal reached an outline agreement on a basis on which all civil aviation emissions will be regulated in future.

Few would any longer argue against the centrality of tourism to the Caribbean economy.

Thirty years ago this coming week American and Caribbean forces landed in Grenada.

In recent months, the voice of Caribbean civil society has been coming to the fore in ways that challenge or bypass politicians, the political class and traditional politics.