by Welcome to our Caribbean Trade and Development News Digest covering the week of February 20-26, 2022! We are pleased to bring you the major trade and development news headlines and analysis from across the Caribbean Region and the world from the past week. We do hope you enjoy this week’s edition!
THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS
One of the biggest news developments this week was the announcement that the long overdue 12th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization, after successive postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will be held the week of June 13 in Geneva, Switzerland. Read more here.
CARICOM countries signed the St George’s Declaration – Towards the Reduction of Intra CARICOM Roaming Charges with two of the telecommunication providers in the Caribbean. Read more here
Coming up this week will be the 33rd Inter-sessional meeting of the CARICOM Heads of Government. Read more here.
REGIONAL NEWS
CARIFORUM talks trade
Barbados Today: Trade between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the European Union (EU) remains a top priority, officials from the EU Commission have assured. Read more
Ukraine Crisis | Russian invasion on agenda for CARICOM meeting
Jamaica Gleaner: Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Kamina Johnson-Smith has indicated that Russian military action is on the agenda for discussion at the upcoming CARICOM heads of government meeting. Read more
PM Briceno Comments on the Upcoming SICA-CARICOM Joint Summit
LoveFM: Hundreds of leaders and officials are expected to land on Ambergris Caye next week for the SICA-CARICOM Joint Summit. It is a 3-day event that Belize is hosting. Prime Minister John Briceno told Love News that such a meeting is way overdue and will serve to strengthen relations in trade and other aspects. Read more
DR begins building border wall with Haiti
Barbados Today: The Dominican government on Sunday began building a wall that will cover almost half of the 392-kilometre (244 miles) border with Haiti, its only land neighbor, to stop irregular migration and the smuggling of goods, weapons and drugs. Read more
The many questions of governance in the metaverse
Newsday: It was clear from the start of the conversation about the role of governance and national sovereignty in the metaverse, that there were far more questions than answers. Read more
St. Kitts & Nevis to ban single use plastics
Travel Pulse: St. Kitts and Nevis, the two-island nation that is quickly becoming a popular Caribbean cruise destination, has announced plans to ban single-use plastics in the near future. Read more
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
WTO chairpersons for 2022
The WTO General Council, on 24 February 2022, noted the consensus on a slate of names of chairpersons for WTO bodies. Read more
Members updated on progress to further integrate small economies into world trading system
WTO: At the General Council meeting of 23 February 2022, the Chair of the Committee on Trade and Development (CTD), Ambassador Muhammad Mujtaba Piracha of Pakistan, outlined his efforts in working with members to advance the discussions under the WTO’s Work Programme on Small Economies. Read more
UK and Singapore sign new innovative digital trade deal
Gov.uk: The International Trade Secretary lands in Singapore to sign a groundbreaking digital trade deal. Read more
Global disruptions to trade about to get worse
Bloomberg: With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine early Thursday, energy costs are soaring, stocks are plunging, Western sanctions are being sharpened, and central bankers already worried about inflation face additional drags from weaker consumer confidence and bigger potential shocks to fragile European economies. Read more
West to cut some Russian banks off from Swift
BBC: The EU, US and their allies have agreed to cut off a number of Russian banks from the main international payment system, Swift. Read more
White House Lays Out Broad Changes to Address Supply-Chain Shortfalls
Wall Street Journal: The administration says ‘we need to have some ambition’ with measures aimed at improving the flow of goods over the long term. Read more
NEW ON THE CTLD BLOG
The Caribbean Trade & Development Digest is a weekly trade news digest produced and published by the Caribbean Trade Law & Development Blog. Liked this issue? To read past issues, please visit here. To receive these mailings directly to your inbox, please subscribe to our Blog below:
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