Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government have agreed to set up a US$60M Regional Fund which will be used for marketing the Caribbean’s tourism as a diverse, single product.
Speaking at a press conference today in Antigua and Barbuda where the 29th Summit of CARICOM is being held, Senator Allan Chastanet, St. Lucia’s Minister of Tourism who also chairs the regional tourism committee said it has been found that the region is in dire need of an effective inter-regional airline that will support this new marketing initiative. The fund seeks to target, in addition to traditional markets, nationals of countries to woo them to the Caribbean.
Of the US$60M earmarked, US$21M will be provided equitably by regional governments, and a task force has been charged to come up with recommendations on how the remaining funds will be secured.
As lead Minister in the CARICOM quasi-Cabinet, Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo will work with his Bahamian counterpart, Hubert Ingraham on the development of a policy and to move forward the concept of agro-tourism, described by Heads as a very important concept which has been taken onboard.
Guyana has already begun promoting this aspect and shortly after the major agriculture investment forum held in Guyana on June 6 and 7, a training workshop was held in the tri-lake communities in Essequibo as model areas to move this concept forward.
On the issue of eco-tourism being side-tracked in favour of sun, sand and sea, the Heads have recognised that Guyana, Suriname and Belize are unable to fund or sustain marketing campaigns in the wider world, and in this light, greater emphasis was placed on the necessity for such a fund. The Heads have also seen the benefit of a diverse tourism product, which provides for the adventurous tourist.
A down-turn in the tourism industry has led to the necessity for Regional Heads to dedicate an entire day of the 29th regular meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government to hold detailed discussion on the regional tourism industry.
Speaking earlier in the day even as technical teams laboured to iron out a   common position on the way forward, President Bharrat Jagdeo said the situation has been made even more serious as many airlines have cancelled flying into the Caribbean largely because of rising fuel costs.
He told journalists that Heads and technical experts spent all day going through a series of presentations and recommendations put forward by various groups on what the region can do to make the sector viable, taking into account an expansion of the traditional base. Read the full story

A motion on the impact of the global food price increases, introduced in the National Assembly last Thursday by Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud was passed in the House last evening after two full days of debate.
The motion calls for the National Assembly to take note of the impact of the increases and to support the interventions being implemented. It also calls for support to the ‘grow more’ campaign and engagement with critical sectors and groups to confront this challenge.
Minister Persaud summing up the debate said that all valid suggestions were included in the interventions and included in the motion. He said that the arguments forwarded by Opposition Leader Robert Corbin suggest that he was out of touch with the people of Guyana.
He expressed regret that the Opposition had failed to support the motion after it was amended based on recommendations made during the debate. This, he said, reflected the difficulty in attempting to build trust between the two sides to develop Guyana. Read the full story

Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy today addressed the issue of medicinal drug import noting that there may be some misunderstanding about drugs that have to be approved and permitted for use in the country.
At a press brief Minister Ramsammy noted that the Food and Drug Analyst (FDA) Department is the only authority in the country to identify which drugs can be imported regardless of whether the drug will be sold or used privately.
In clarifying whether or not any drug can be imported once it is for private use Minister Ramsammy said it has to be registered with the FDA department and it must be approved for usage in the country.
The Health Minister also explained that despite a drug being on the approved list, if it is to be imported but, sourced from a different manufacturer to the one on the list approved, permission must still be sought to import it.
Minister Ramsammy said when drugs are imported tests are done in accordance with guidelines set out by the FDA department. A specimen is taken and random testing is done locally. Read the full story

As Guyana’s health sector undergoes significant improvements, managers within the sector are encouraged to be fully equipped to effectively function as these changes occur.
Minister within the Ministry of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran told regional health officers and other participants at the first bi-annual regional health conference today that
the Ministry will embark on programmes to retrain or provide opportunities for health personnel to develop the capacity to occupy managerial positions.
Participants were encouraged to desist from engaging in old practices as changes are being made in the sector. Minister Ramsaran told participants that one aspect of management that special focus must be placed on is the concept of economy of savings.
“Good management of money will automatically transfer to the resources made available for other demands of institutions,” he said. Under the theme ‘Strengthening Management of Primary Read the full story

August is the deadline for application for health licences by existing hospitals and those health facilities that do not seek a licence now will not be entitled to the one-year phasing in period.
Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy made this disclosure at a press conference Tuesday where he noted that the enforcement of the Health Facilities Licensing Act regulations within the Act have been distributed to all health facilities. “All of these facilities must notify us now that they intend to seek a licence to operate. By the end of August any existing health facility that does not inform us will not have the one year phasing in application, they will be treated as if they are starting as a new service and they will have to close down their operation and apply as a new facility,” Minister Ramsammy said.
He emphasized that any new facility whether it is a laboratory, hospital, or dialysis centre, cannot begin operations unless a licence is acquired.
Obtaining a licence is a two-stage process; health institutions will be granted a provisional licence where information must be provided to the Ministry of Health about planned services that will be offered following which an approval will be given by the Ministry before construction Read the full story

Guyana’s exhibition at the American Birding Association (ABA) convention in Snowbird, Utah, was well received as the birdwatching community’s interest continues to grow. The forum allowed the country’s representatives to make important market connections.
The Representatives included Tourism Coordinator, Wally Prince; Manager of Wilderness Explorers, Teri O’Brien; Tourism Director for the Guyana Sustainable Tourism Initiative (GSTI), Judy Karwacki; and GSTI senior writer and author of the Bradt Travel Guide to Guyana, Kirk Smock. They met with several companies from the American birdwatching industry to discuss the possibilities of developing Guyana’s tourism potential as a birdwatching destination, a Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) release said.
The convention which lasted for one week gave the representatives the opportunity to meet with Leica Sport Optics, one of the world’s leading producers of optics, including binoculars, scopes, cameras and lenses, during which they expressed great interest in forging a multi-faceted partnership that would bring a range of exciting benefits for Guyana, the release said.
As a result Guyana may be the new destination for the digiscoping trips as discussions were held with the company to promote its product here.  Digiscoping is a method of taking photos by installing a digital camera to a spotting scope. Read the full story

As Region Three (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara) prepares to take part in the Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA) celebrations in August, Regional Officials are moving ahead to ensure that the region is on top of it capital works.
Regional Chairman Julius Faerber said that, “We are preparing for CARIFESTA in the region on August 30 at the Uitvlugt ground and with that we are removing all illegal structures and derelict vehicles from the roadways.”
Faerber issued an appeal to residents to desist from dumping garbage on the roadways and in drainage facilities.
Constructions of several roadways are currently in progress including the First Cross Street at Sister’s Village, First Street at Good Intent and GuySuCo Housing Scheme road at Vergenoegen.
Back Street at Stewartville and Fourth Street at Uitvlugt have already been completed and works on three others are yet to start. “We have been moving at a good pace so far but the weather has restricted us or else we would have completed the work,” Faerber said. Read the full story

Bollywood’s two leading stars Aamir Khan and Salman Khan are set to relive the magic that they created in the 1994 comedy “Andaz Apna Apna”, but this time for the small screen. Aamir is appearing with his nephew Imran Khan on Sony TV’s “Dus Ka Dum”, which is being hosted by Salman. The episode will be telecast Friday. Aamir is featuring on the show to promote his nephew’s debut film “Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na” that he has produced. Read the full story

The Ministry of Defence has signed contracts worth £3.2bn to build the UK’s biggest ever aircraft carriers.

The 280-metre-long HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales will be capable of carrying up to 40 aircraft. The contracts will create or secure 3,000 jobs at Govan, in Glasgow, 1,600 at Rosyth, in Fife, 1,200 in Portsmouth and 400 in Barrow in Furness. The defence secretary said the vessels were needed to launch military strikes and humanitarian operations. HMS Queen Elizabeth will come into service in 2014 and HMS Prince of Wales in 2016. The total cost of both vessels, including additional features like electronics, will be almost £4bn. Each ship will be a similar size to the ocean liner, the QE2, with a flight deck the size of three football pitches. This will make them more than three times the size of the existing Invincible-class carriers. Each 65,000-tonne vessel will be crewed by 1,450 sailors and airmen. The building of the two aircraft carriers is expected to create or secure a total of 10,000 jobs across the UK. The project is going ahead despite serious misgivings among some in the military about the huge financial burden it will place on a defence budget already under severe pressure.

The Army and RAF are already expecting cuts to equipment funds and defence analyst Andrew Brookes says, “We can’t afford the cost of the aircraft carriers, the cost of the Joint Strike fighters to go on them, and all the replenishment, escort and protecting vessels,” he said. “We can’t afford that without a major increase in funding which I can’t see coming.”

But Defence Secretary Des Browne said the carriers were “an affordable expenditure” and were not being purchased at the expense of other areas. Read the full story

As Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Leaders including President Bharrat Jagdeo continue discussions in St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda on a number of issues at the 29th CARICOM Heads of Government summit ongoing on the island, Organisation of American States (OAS) Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza underscored that the Jagdeo Initiative on Agriculture is critical to stemming the gravity of the region’s food crisis.
The Jagdeo Initiative on Agriculture was initiated by President Bharrat Jagdeo as lead Head for Agriculture in the Region. It is a strategic policy framework that sets the agenda for repositioning of agriculture in the region by identifying 10 key binding constraints that must be addressed as the region embarks on the process of increasing food security and food sovereignty.
Insulza said he is prepared to work with organizations within the framework of the OAS to seek solutions, ensure food security, alleviate the situation in the short-term and improve the conditions of agriculture production in the region.
The Secretary-General argued that the problem the region faces is not really that of food supply or food shortage but that of demand, noting that people in the region simply do not have the Read the full story