The challenge that is now facing almost every Caribbean nation is how best to recover the tourism economy without which future economic growth and sustainable tax revenues will be all but impossible.
It is hard to imagine an action more likely to accelerate the decline of US influence in the world than deciding in the middle of a global pandemic to attack the one body that is coordinating the global fight against it.
Speaking recently in in New York, the state Governor, Andrew Cuomo said: “The stress, the emotion, is just incredible, and rightfully so.
Just a few weeks ago it was possible for Trinidad’s Prime Minister, Dr Keith Rowley, to indicate in a major speech, that the Caribbean as whole had a potentially very bright future as a major western hemisphere oil and gas supplier.
The Caribbean is about to experience a crisis of a kind that no one in the region or anywhere else in the world could have predicted.
In normal times a sudden drop in the price of oil would elicit a collective sigh of relief among Caribbean governments and Central Bankers.
Two weeks ago, Caribbean Heads of Government passed a resolution critical of US policy towards Cuba.
No case of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has been reported in the Caribbean (Editor’s note: The Dominican Republic confirmed one case yesterday).
One of the more interesting aspects of the recently ended Heads of Government meeting, was the positive tone of the remarks made by CARICOM’s ad interim Chair, Barbados’ Prime Minister, Mia Mottley.
Two weeks ago, Trinidad’s Prime Minister, Dr Keith Rowley, delivered a major speech.
Last month Britain held an Africa investment summit. It was live streamed and hosted by the country’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.
A little over a week ago the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, met in Kingston with Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Andrew Holness.
The Caribbean has the potential to do much more to develop its identity, spur growth, soft power and competitiveness, if its citizens reimagine the future of its countries and cities.
Politicians love to promise a better and brighter future. They tend to say little about the day to day experience their citizens have of the services they provide.
On Thursday the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo proposed a new approach to the political crisis that continues to grip Venezuela.
In the slow news period between Christmas and the new year, the Financial Times published a chart that graphically illustrated how the global trade in goods has changed since 2000.
Taken at face value, the outcome of Britain’s December 12 general election could not have been clearer.
Regional news coverage can be patchy. While electoral politics, national economic performance and crime from across the Caribbean are regularly reported and commented upon, this is not the case when the issues are regarded as being domestic.
Last month CARICOM’s Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) took a decision that will likely determine whether Anglophone Caribbean sugar producers have a sustainable future.
Their plight no longer hits the headlines, but the shocking personal stories continue to emerge.
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