David Jessop

Building barriers to halt cross-border migration can cause serious reputational damage.

A little over a year ago this column observed that the pandemic will pass, but noted that more telling will be the way in which the region responds to the impact of a virus-induced recession.

From Russia to Singapore, nations around the world are considering providing citizens who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 with digital immunity certificates for domestic and international use.

A few days ago, the Nigerian-American economist, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was appointed to lead the 164 nation Geneva-based World Trade Organisation (WTO). 

When the economies of the Caribbean and Central America finally exit the pandemic, most will be in crisis.

More than a decade has passed since the EU-CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) was negotiated and signed.

A few days ago, China’s President, Xi Jinping, addressed the opening of this year’s Davos World Economic Forum.

In the dying days of the Trump Presidency the US State Department designated Cuba a ‘State Sponsor of Terrorism’.

Tomorrow, Joe Biden will become the forty-sixth President of the United States.

Last year was a disaster for Caribbean tourism. Estimates suggest that visitor arrivals to the region fell by 75% in the last three quarters of 2020 causing overall Caribbean economic growth for the year to contract by 6.2%.

Very soon, possibly by the time that this column is read, the European Union and Britain will have decided on the nature of their post Brexit relationship.

It is hard to know what the future holds for Venezuela, its opposition leader Juan Guaidó, or the present US-led policy that emphasizes sanctions and isolation.

Intensely national in character, environmental protest is on the rise across the Caribbean.

This was the year when much of the Caribbean went to the polls.

In the last few days, Pfizer BioNTech a German-US company, and the US company Moderna have separately announced that that the COVID-19 vaccines they have been developing have proved ninety-five per cent effective.

It is easy to share the excitement felt across the Caribbean at President elect Joe Biden’s victory in the US polls.

From Bridgetown’s Carlisle Bay to England’s south west coastal town of Weymouth, cruise ships berthed offshore and out of service have become a familiar sight.

A few days ago, the US Ambassador in Kingston, Donald Tapia, gave an exclusive interview to the Jamaica Observer.

By mid-November, the outcome of the saga of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU) will be known.

A little earlier this month, the University of the West Indies’ Shridath Ramphal Centre published a policy paper that called for a new, integrated regional approach to post-COVID Caribbean economic recovery.