ST. LUCIA: Saint Jude Hospital wishes to inform the general public that it has instituted a change to early morning visiting hours. Effective April 18, visiting hours will be between 6:30 – 7:30 a.m. Afternoon and evening visiting hours remain unchanged. The time change will allow patients to spend more time with their loved ones and ensures that visiting hours do not conflict with critical nursing duties. For more information contact Saint Jude Hospital at 758.459.6700.
Ministry of National Security concludes the XII CDMA Preparatory Meeting
TRINIDAD: April 14, 2016: The Ministry of National Security hosted the ‘Twelfth Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas’ (XII CDMA) Two-Day Preparatory Meeting from Tuesday April 12 – Wednesday April 13, 2016 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain.
The first CDMA was convened in 1995 in Williamsburg, United States of America and has since been rotated among the member states every two years. Subsequent Conferences were held in Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Canada, Bolivia, Uruguay and Peru.
The Conference of Defence Ministers of the Americas (CDMA) provides a valuable forum of dialogue for the countries of the Hemisphere and seeks to increase cooperation in the areas of Defence and Security among the member states. It is designed to provide the Ministers of Defence with the opportunity to discuss topics such as confidence and security building measures, peace support operations, civil-military relations, and emerging threats such as transnational organized crime and terrorism.
Trinidad and Tobago was elected chair of the XII CDMA at the XI Conference which was held in Arequipa, Peru in October 2014. Major General the Honourable Edmund Dillon will serve as President of the XII Conference. The Preparatory Session was chaired by the Secretary General of the XII CDMA, Mr. Carl Francis.
The Preparatory Meeting allowed for Member States of the CDMA to discuss and agree on the proposed CDMA Thematic Agenda and related sub themes for the XII Conference that have been proposed by Trinidad and Tobago. Accordingly, the meeting agreed on the theme and sub themes as follows:
Theme:
“Strengthening Defence and Security Co-operation in the Hemisphere in an Increasingly Volatile Global Environment.”
Sub Themes or Thematic Axes:
1. Security and Defence of the Americas in a Changing International Environment: The Evolving Role of the Armed Forces
2. Environmental Protection and Resilience (This sub theme will examine the impact of the military on the environment and the impact of climate change on the military.)
3. Hemispheric Security and Defence Cooperation Policy: A Case for Strengthened Humanitarian Emergency Assistance.
Other issues discussed at the Preparatory Session were:
1. The outcomes of the Ad Hoc Working Groups that were created at the XI CDMA and which met in Port of Spain in August 2015
2. The draft Declaration of Port-of-Spain that the Defence Ministers will consider in October at the XII CDMA
3. The List of Observer countries and institutions to be invited to participate in the XII CDMA
4. Consideration of the candidatures to host the XIII CDMA
5. Proposed amendments to the Regulations of the CDMA
Trinidad and Tobago is the Pro-Tempore Secretariat for the XII CDMA and is responsible for the execution of the Conference to be held at the Hyatt Regency later this year. The Preparatory Meeting, which was held at the level of technical officials, paved the way for the Meeting of Defence Ministers at the XII CDMA Conference, which will be hosted by Trinidad and Tobago in October 2016.
The Conference is being held at a time when the CARICOM region and the rest of the hemisphere are grappling with the many new threats to the security and defence of our populations. The opportunity to propose areas of cooperation and collaboration among the states is therefore most welcome and necessary at this time.
Participating Member States of the 34 member CDMA at the Preparatory Session were Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and the United States of America.
Launch Of St. Vincent And The Grenadines One Health Project
ST. VINCENT: Efforts are continuing to reduce, and to eventually eliminate, the Pterois Volitans (lionfish), invasive species in the waters of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, specifically, the Grenadines.
The St. Vincent and the Grenadines One Health Project Team disclosed these plans at the launch of their country project at a press briefing on Wednesday,13th April at the Fisheries conference room.
The core leaders of the One Health Project Team are: Drs. Malaika Glasgow and Kathian Herbert-Hackshaw of the Animal Health and Production Division, Ministry of Agriculture; and Ms. Kerry-Ann Hamilton, College Counsellor, SVG Community College. Other team members are Senior Fisheries Assistant, Mr. Shamal Connell; Senior Environmental Health Officer, Mr. Todd Lewis; and Senior Tourism Officer, Ms. Annille Beache.
In introducing the team, Ms. Hamilton said that the aim of the One Health Project is to “improve health and well-being through the prevention of risk and mitigation of effects of crisis that originate at the interface between humans, animals, and their various environments”.
She also said that there will be several activities to create further awareness of the lionfish and its effects on local fish populations. Activities include visits to secondary and primary schools in the Grenadines, poster competitions, and cook-offs.
To ensure a multi-sectoral approach, Ms. Hamilton explained that the One Health Project Team will collaborate with the SVG Hotel and Tourism Association, the Mayreau Regatta Association, Sustainable Grenadines (SusGren), Dive shops, Tobago Cays Marine Park, and fisherfolk organisations.
Mr. Todd Lewis said that he is privileged to be a member of the One Health Project leadership team. He emphasised that health issues are becoming increasingly significant to St. Vincent and the Grenadines and added that the environment, on a whole, is at the centre of everything that we do in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. According to Lewis, wellness always incorporates people regardless of the topic since everything is interconnected in this particular chain.
The One Health Project Team is a component of the One Health Leadership Series to enable and empower professionals from the health, agriculture, and environment sectors to play leadership roles on cross sectoral issues in Caribbean countries. This initiative is spearheaded and funded by the University of the West Indies, World Health Organisation (WHO), Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), Inter American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IICA), and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The project was first launched in November 2014 at the Rex Resorts Turtle Beach Hotel in Tobago and will conclude in March of 2017.
Source: API
Dominica to host OECS Juvenile Justice Reform Activity
DOMINICA: A community oriented weekend event to build the awareness of juveniles and the issues they face will be staged in Dominica soon.
The Government of Dominica, as a beneficiary of the OECS Juvenile Justice Reform Project, participated in a few programmes tailored to stimulate public interest in youth and juvenile justice issues through active participation.
Under the project, activities which Dominica submitted included sensitization programmes on violence, parenting sessions, and a youth forum.
The final activities to take place next week will be done in two parts: a panel discussion with dramatization and the viewing of a regionally produced movie on juvenile concerns.
In an interview with GIS news, Magistrate, Gloria Augustus said people need to know about juvenile issues.
“Because of the reform, people have to be part of it in terms of the program, because the young people are part of society. We are having an outreach program looking at the causes of violence,” she explained.
The dramatization is titled, ‘View from the Prison Van’ written by Ruth Montrichard with flashbacks written by Magistrate Augustus.
The dramatization features messages sent to various persons by a prisoner in a prison van on his way to court for a crime the prisoner thinks will result in his hanging.
A panel discussion will be held to discuss the root causes of violence and the role in breaking the cycle.
The panellists are ASP Claude Weeks, Vincent Richards, Yvonne Alexander, Matilda Popo, Thomas Holmes and Montgomerry Richards.
The activity is an attempt to examine dysfunctional family dynamics as one of the root causes of violence. It is expected that the audience will do some self-examination on their role in breaking the cycle of violence.
The general public is encouraged to attend the events which will take place at the Arawak House of Culture on April 22nd and April 23rd at 7:30 pm.
IDB PLeased With Programme's Progress
BARBADOS: Barbados, in its fourth year of executing the Skills For The Future (SFTF) Program, is continuing to reap success, says Education Lead Specialist with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Dr. Sabine Rieble-Aubourg.
The IDB representative affirmed this recently while on an Administrative Mission here to assess the status of the US $20 million SFTF initiative that commenced in 2012.
Providing media representatives with some details on the mission, Dr. Rieble- Aubourg said it was aimed at getting a good overview of the status of implementation of the various components, and identifying the progress made and any potential bottlenecks which needed to be addressed.
She reminded them that the program comprised four components. These were outlined as: support for an employer-driven training system; improving the quality and relevance of secondary and post-secondary education; institutional strengthening of the Ministries of Education and Labour and the various institutions involved, including the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic and the Barbados Vocational Training Board; and a communication campaign.
The IDB official also lauded the successful A Ganar program, which uses the power of sports to help at-risk youth develop market-driven job skills. Noting it “was performing well” and was on target, she said following an injection of US $500,000 by the USAID in November 2015, the Education Ministry, together with Partners of America, the implementation agency of A Ganar, was able to add three other secondary schools to the progam.
With 2016 being the final year for A Ganar, Dr. Rieble-Aubourg added that the IDB was working with the Education Ministry to process requests for a two-year extension that would move it towards a completion date of 2018. “We all agree that a two-year extension will be necessary and advantageous to complete the ongoing activities,” she stressed.
It was further noted that the IDB had embarked on discussions to focus more on Component II of the SFTF, which seeks to improve the relevance and quality of secondary education.
The IDB representative said as a result of the visits and reports garnered from both the A Ganar component and the partnerships formed, what was evident was that literacy and numeracy remained areas of concern that were in need of strengthening.
“We will work with the Ministry of Education to look more closely at what is required, starting at early childhood and primary education, to strengthen these areas to make sure that graduates coming out of secondary schools are well prepared… to enter the world of work and to then participate in training initiatives, as provided by the CBTF [Competency-based Training Fund],” Dr. Rieble-Aubourg assured.
joy-ann.gill@barbados.gov.bb
This year’s restaurant week already creating a buzz with media launch
ST. KITTS: Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 14, 2016 (SKNIS): This year’s Restaurant Week, which runs from July 13 to 24, 2016, is already creating a buzz with its media launch held on April 13 at Ottley’s Plantation Inn.
The week is expected to showcase the creativity of local restaurants with this year’s featured ingredient, pumpkin.
Director of the Department of Agriculture, Melvin James, spoke about the department’s involvement in Restaurant Week, noting that the department is instrumental in supplying what the restaurants need to make their dishes.
“We are always excited about bridging that gap and producing what is necessary so that we can truly have an exciting restaurant week using local produce,” said the director. “There is a great opportunity to replace imports and so the Department of Agriculture tries its utmost best in every way possible to promote and market local.”
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Carlene Henry-Morton, stated that the ministry is excited and feels very encouraged by the very positive response it is receiving this year from local caterers, restaurants and other eating establishments.
Mrs. Morton said that the initiative has positive effects on other sectors of the economy as well.
“It provides opportunities for building networks and strategic alliances, for capitalizing on the synergies needed to bolster and strengthen the individual sectors that will participate,” she said, noting that the local agriculture sector for example can and should position itself to benefit from initiatives like restaurant week.
“We are after all Liamigua, the fertile land, and so our produce, our herds, our seasonings, our fresh fruits and vegetables, our tea leaves, can add that authentic Kittitian flavour to the culinary delights on our menus, treats for locals and visitors alike.”
The permanent secretary stated that agriculture, interlinked with local eating establishments, translates into improved livelihoods for our local farmers, restaurateurs, hoteliers and community food vendors.
“Restaurant week is definitely an avenue for showcasing local produce and cuisine,” she said, adding that an activity like restaurant week “is critical to a vibrant, sustainable tourism industry and plays a vital role in enhancing and supporting national tourism product diversification and food security and our self-sufficiency efforts. She further added that food in itself “contributes to the overall competitiveness of a tourism destination and culinary tourism is growing rapidly.”
Restaurant week will not only feature menus from large restaurants but from small businesses snackettes, food vendors and micro restaurants that will also participate in the activities.
Mrs. Morton encouraged local businesses to capitalize on the opportunity to get more exposure.
Participating restaurants throughout St. Kitts and Nevis will be offering meals at special menu prices and will feature dishes made from local ingredients.
These restaurants include Belmont Farm at Kittitian Hill which will offer a menu at EC$ 162 or US$ 60, Serendipity which will serve a price fixed dinner at EC$ 108 or US$ 40 and Sunset Café at Timothy Beach Resort which will offer meals at EC$ 54 or US$ 20.
Smaller dining spots that serve lunch only including street vendors and snackettes such as the Jerk Pit at the new Ram’s Food Court will also offer menu choices and discounted prices.
All restaurant week menus will emphasize local ingredients and authentic Kittitian and Nevisian cuisine and will also feature drink specials.
Government tackles plastic waste disposal
ST. LUCIA: Some Caribbean territories have instituted bans on plastics, and other countries are considering replicating the success of these initiatives.
Hon. Dr. James Fletcher, Minister for Sustainable Development, Energy, Science and Technology, has convened a meeting to discuss the vexing problem of plastic litter disposal on the island.
Saint Lucia has long grappled with the improper disposal of plastic litter. The indiscriminate disposal of plastics – from shopping bags and beverage bottles to Styrofoam containers – has created serious environmental issues.
A Returnable Containers Bill was drafted a few years ago, but has not yet been brought to Parliament. While the Ministry of Sustainable Development remains optimistic that the bill will be finalized soon, it views the problem of plastic waste as severe enough to seek a solution prior to passing legislation.
Recently, some Caribbean territories – Antigua and Barbuda and Guyana – have instituted bans on plastic grocery bags and Styrofoam storage containers, and other countries are looking at the success of these initiatives to determine whether they should follow suit.
The Ministry of Sustainable Development, Energy, Science and Technology believes any solution must have support from a broad cross-section of society in order to be successful, which is why it is bringing together all relevant bodies to discuss possible solutions.
The meeting will be chaired by the Minister for Public Service, Sustainable Development, Energy, Science and Technology, Hon. Dr. James Fletcher, and will be held on April 15, at 10 a.m., in the Training Department of the Ministry of the Public Service, Information and Broadcasting, in the Sir Stanislaus James Building on the Waterfront.
Saint Lucia has long grappled with the improper disposal of plastic litter. The indiscriminate disposal of plastics – from shopping bags and beverage bottles to Styrofoam containers – has created serious environmental issues.
A Returnable Containers Bill was drafted a few years ago, but has not yet been brought to Parliament. While the Ministry of Sustainable Development remains optimistic that the bill will be finalized soon, it views the problem of plastic waste as severe enough to seek a solution prior to passing legislation.
Recently, some Caribbean territories – Antigua and Barbuda and Guyana – have instituted bans on plastic grocery bags and Styrofoam storage containers, and other countries are looking at the success of these initiatives to determine whether they should follow suit.
The Ministry of Sustainable Development, Energy, Science and Technology believes any solution must have support from a broad cross-section of society in order to be successful, which is why it is bringing together all relevant bodies to discuss possible solutions.
The meeting will be chaired by the Minister for Public Service, Sustainable Development, Energy, Science and Technology, Hon. Dr. James Fletcher, and will be held on April 15, at 10 a.m., in the Training Department of the Ministry of the Public Service, Information and Broadcasting, in the Sir Stanislaus James Building on the Waterfront.
Inland Revenue Department underscores importance of good customer service
ST. KITTS: Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 14, 2016 (SKNIS): Customer Service in the workplace is described as vital to the success of business. Edward Gift, Comptroller of the St. Kitts and Nevis Inland Revenue Department, said that to date the staff of the department has performed professionally.
“Yes, we understand that the public sector may have some sort of image with regards to customer service but we at the Inland Revenue Department, my team and I, we do not see ourselves doing that,” said Gift during his appearance on “Working for You” on Wednesday, April 13. “That is, we see ourselves as a professional modern organization. We have a plan of molding ourselves into a world class tax administration.”
The comptroller said that the department is aimed at improving the standards of services that it provides, in a very strategic manner.
“One of the first things we set out to do is try to understand what the customers’ needs are,” he said, while adding that the department is currently in the process of conducting focus groups, studies with customers, and meetings with stakeholders that the department serves. “We have also started from a human resource perspective within the organization to ensure that we have documented all of our procedures. “We want to make sure that we move to publicizing those so that the public would understand that to have a transaction completed this is the time period in terms of getting it done.”
Gift stated that the department obtained assistance in carrying out certain tasks.
“We have received some international support in terms of getting that work done from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) based in Trinidad which is an agency of the World Bank,” said the comptroller. “Similarly, from an employee perspective we have sought to strategically ensure that all the employees have a clear job description based upon certain key performance indicators so the employees themselves understand the responsibilities of the job.”
Mr. Gift revealed that the department is in the process of launching a customer service charter that would be provided to customers. He said that this would hopefully be launched shortly as they want to ensure that the public understands that the Inland Revenue Department is one that is keen on serving the public and making sure that customers are satisfied.
C&W Business Launches Innovative Software Defined Data Center Solution
Integrated with Disaster Recovery and Providing Customers Control Over their Virtual Environment across the Caribbean and Latin American Region
C&W Business, a division of Cable & Wireless Communications, Plc (CWC), today announces the launch of an innovative high-value Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) solution that allows customers to use Information Technology as a Service or ITaaS from any one of the Company’s datacenters. This technology provides customers the opportunity to be in complete control of their IT Infrastructure from any one device or location across the Caribbean and Latin American region.
C&W Business has leveraged this technology by designing Virtual Data Centers (VDC), a flexible pool of virtual resources of RAM, CPU and Storage, that allows customers to utilize and create and re-create their production, disaster recovery, test, quality assurance, development environments and several other uses they may need to run an efficient and cost effective operation.
The Company’s SDDC affords both customer flexibility and scalability in a virtual environment making it easy and inexpensive to configure and control their multiple environments. For instance, customers purchasing 400GB of RAM and associated CPU and storage can consume 50GB of RAM from the Cayman Islands datacenter for a test site, 200GB out of the Panama datacenter for their production site, and 150GB of RAM out of the Curacao datacenter for their Disaster Recovery (DR) environment. Therefore customers can continue running their day-to-day operations while ensuring important applications and data are backed up in separate environments.
C&W Business has invested heavily in offering its customers this Innovative Infrastructure as-a-service platform running on seven datacenters that are connected to C&W’s robust, reliable and redundant Fault Tolerant Network infrastructure, which spans across 48,000 km across 42 countries. Also, C&W Business employs some of the highest certified staff in the region to provide 24×7 proactive monitoring of its SDDC solution through the Company’s NOCs (Network Operation Centers), SOCs (Security Operation Centers) and Datacenters.
In the 21st century, IT needs to always be on, support multiple devices and platforms and adapt to changing business requirements by optimizing performance and scalability to support big data. Also, they need to ensure their departments are able to focus on adding value to organizations by educating business counterparts on how to use IT to generate competitive advantages. For this reason, many industries such as banks, universities, insurance companies, hospitals, and governments are increasingly adopting these types of high-value ITaaS solutions that boost efficiency and drive innovation.
With this SCCD platform, C&W Business is able to provide the only true Hybrid IT solution in the region. Regardless of where clients’ servers are physically located, whether on their own premise, in C&W datacenters, or in the cloud, IBM AIX, IBM i/OS (AS/400), Windows, Linux, and many other different platforms are seamlessly integrated and available to be consumed ‘as a service’.
The C&W Business SCCD solution is fully available with several Enterprises and Government institutions actively benefiting from its features already in Colombia, Panama, Central America and the Caribbean.
Local agro-processors showcase top quality and variety of their products
ST. KITTS: Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 14, 2016 (SKNIS): Following a media launch of restaurant week held on April 13, a number of local businesses came out at the Department of at the Agriculture Conference Room on April 14 to showcase various products which they have to offer to restaurants and hotels.
Kathleen Pessolano, Consultant Supporting the Ministry of Tourism, stated that the Agro-processing Showcase provided an avenue to promote local sourcing of ingredients in St. Kitts and Nevis and also feature local cuisine and dishes of this year’s main ingredient, pumpkin.
“We really wanted to create an opportunity for local suppliers to meet especially with restaurants in this kind of exclusive setting so that restaurants can get to know some of the local suppliers that they might not already know about and can start developing a customer supply relationship with them,” said Ms. Pessolano.
She mentioned that last year’s restaurant week was an incredible success and she is looking forward to the success of this year’s week. Over 30 restaurants will be participating this year. Ms. Pessolano added that restaurants that did not participate in last year’s event are now on board.
Representatives of various restaurants expressed their pleasure in being able to sample the local products and said they are looking forward for the opportunity to incorporate them in their menus.
Director and Owner of Carambola, Daislyn Sharpe, stated that the restaurant tries as much as possible to use local products as many tourists that visit are interested in the flavours of the Caribbean, in particular St. Kitts and Nevis.
“Our local pumpkin features very nicely on our menu, both in our a-la-carte dinner, lunch selections, as well as our deserts,” she said.
Carambola’s Head Sushi Chef, Richmond Milaire, said that he is looking forward to using pumpkin in his sushi dishes. He commented that he enjoys creating sushi dishes from local produce as they are not usually featured on sushi menus.
Director of Food and Beverage at Marriot Beach Resort, Thierry Delarge, went to the event to not only source local items available for the retail shops there but to learn what is being done in St. Kitts and Nevis.
“There are a lot of tourists and guests that would probably be interested in taking home some of the pickled pumpkin or pumpkin wine,” he said, referencing some of the items available at Sweet Little Things. “We like to see what is also done in terms of the craft such as the ice creams and cakes which are pretty good actually.”
Also on display were locally produced plantain chips, sweet potato chips and flour, jams, guava cheese, various hot sauces from Brimstone Flavours and Sweet Little Things, and a special pumpkin drink from Carton’s Farm, along with St. Kitts Agro-Processors.
