by Welcome to our Caribbean Trade and Development News Digest covering the week of April 9-15, 22, 2023! 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
There was much news for us to follow this week! The IMF and World Bank held their annual spring meetings. The ‘CARICOM at 50’ symposium was held in celebration of CARICOM’s 50th anniversary and a Youth Symposium was also organised. The CARICOM SG’s key note address at the symposium may be accessed here. Have a read below of some of this week’s other highlights.
What’s new on the blog? Check out our latest article authored by friend of the blog and frequent guest contributor Javier Spencer on whether citizenship by investment programme could assist with funding loss and damage. Have a read here!
REGIONAL NEWS
Belize PM defends decision taken against Jamaicans and Haitians
Jamaica Observer: Belize Prime Minister John Briceño has again defended his government’s decision to impose visa and other restrictions on Jamaican and Haitian nationals after Opposition Leader Shyne Barrow denounced the move. Read more
‘Visa requirement for Jamaicans and Haitians violates CARICOM treaty,” says Opposition Leader Shyne Barrow
Breaking Belize News: Leader of the Opposition Shyne Barrow says the visa requirement for Jamaicans and Haitians violates CARICOM Treaty. Read more.
Caribbean must reorient trade routes to push Guyana-led food plan
News Room Guyana: There is much focus on the Guyana-led food plan of expanding food production in the Caribbean while cutting out expensive imports. And Finance Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Camillo Gonsalves believes that improved trade routes must be developed within the Caribbean to boost intra-regional trade. Read more
Guyana leads CARICOM countries in economic growth for 2023
Jamaica Gleaner: GUYANA IS expected to record the highest growth among Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries this year, while Haiti will record under one per cent growth in 2023, according to the latest World Economic Outlook, released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday. Read more
Trade barriers no longer serve Caribbean countries & hinder food security – says Regional Academic
News Room Guyana: Caribbean countries hope to slash the US$6 billion annual food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025 but these efforts are being hindered by longstanding trade barriers that do not serve Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries well. Read more
Agri-Food Strategy Being Implemented in CARICOM
JIS: An agri-food strategy is being implemented within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). This is to enhance production and trade of regional agricultural products, enable greater access to a supply of nutritious foods, and reduce reliance on the importation of extra-regional foods. Read more
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NI Brexit: Decline in bulk freight moving through ports in 2022
BBC: The amount of freight moving through Northern Ireland’s ports fell by more than 5% to 27.5m tonnes in 2022, official figures suggest. Read more
WTO Director-General: Trade is resilient, but slowing
CNN: WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala speaks about the risk of slowing trade at the IMF-World Bank meetings. Read more
Turkey seeks to enhance trade ties with Africa
Africanews: Increasing trade between Turkey and Africa to 4.5 billion dollars is the objective set by the Global Forum for Intersectoral Cooperation. The initiative also aims to increase the notoriety of Turkish SMEs on the continent. Its approach is innovative. Read more
Ukraine and Canada agree on updated trade agreement
Yahoo News: Ukraine and Canada have announced the completion of negotiations on an updated Free Trade Agreement between the two countries; this document will replace the existing agreement that has been in effect since 2017. Read more
Commonwealth finance ministers call for systemic reform of global financial architecture
Barbadostoday: Finance ministers from various Commonwealth countries have called for a systemic reform of the global financial architecture to enhance access to development financing for vulnerable countries. Read more
STRAIGHT FROM THE WTO!
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:
