The View From Europe

A few days ago, the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) announced that it is to restructure its operations in the face of rising costs and the need to “elevate tourism development in the region”.

Older readers of this column may remember a time when most Caribbean economies were dominated by family owned and run companies.

The spectacle of Britain all but tearing itself apart over its future relationship with the European Union (EU) has been unedifying.

Sometime next month, Russia’s Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, is expected to travel to Cuba.

A few days ago, the Solomon Islands, Taiwan’s largest ally in the Pacific, recognised China.

Cruise tourism has become a big business, with the Caribbean now accounting for more than 35 per cent of all such vacations globally.

Such is the revolutionary fervour of those now in charge of Britain’s government, they are testing to its democratic limits the cohesion of a country with no formal constitution.

Last month the Group of Seven (G7) most advanced economies failed to reach a consensus on the major challenges the world faces.

In the last few days new evidence has been published suggesting that scientists are now 99 per cent certain that human activity is causing global warming.

In a  few days’ time about 160,000 members of Britain’s Conservative Party – largely white, male and in their late fifties – will elect a new party leader and so appoint Britain’s next Prime Minister.

Last month Facebook announced that it will roll out in 2020 a global digital currency to be known as Libra.

Just over a week ago, Cuba’s President, Miguel Díaz-Canel, said that starting this month all state employed workers will receive the first of what will likely be several salary increases.

Speaking at the end of the recent summit of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Dominica’s Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, was clear.

Tourism now dominates most Caribbean economies, drawing huge numbers of visitors and wealth into the region.

When in the early 1990s it became apparent that Europe’s preferential regimes for Caribbean bananas and sugar were coming to an end, an impassioned debate began about a transition to other forms of economic activity. 

The moment is fast arriving when Caribbean Governments and business will have to consider the consequences of the tariff wars and sanctions that Washington is now pursuing.

It was not to be. A ‘Sargassum Summit’ to develop a multinational response to the worsening problem of the sargassum seaweed washing up on some of the best beaches in the Caribbean has had to be postponed.

Being a Head of Government or a Foreign Minister is a thankless task.

In just under a week’s time voters from across the whole of the European Union (EU) will go to the polls to elect a new European Parliament.

A few days ago, the United Nations published a document which indicated that historically unprecedented levels of  human activity were causing dramatic changes to the variety of plant and animal life in the world.