By Kevin Lindon

GEORGETOWN, Guyana: The Caribbean was unready for the negotiations on agriculture under the controversial Economic Partner-ship Agreement (EPA), a senior negotiator said this week at an agriculture conference in Kingstown.

Ambassador Patrick Antoine, a lead negotiator in the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery, said the bloc has lost some opportunities in areas such as transportation.

“Late in the EPA negotiation process, CARICOM (Caribbean Community) was scrambling to respond to the European Union proposals,” Antoine said Tuesday morning during a media roundtable workshop at the Caribbean Week of Agriculture conference in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

“We came to the table in agriculture, truth be told, ill-prepared.”

Antoine said, for example, matters raised by Belize – such as having the issues of subsidies and domestic support addressed – were ignored in the EPA talks.

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By Oscar Ramjeet

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados: The Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export), Phillip Williams, said that his agency, along with the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce and the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery, were working towards extensive promotion of the region’s export services.

Williams said that a 23-member business mission recently returned from an encouraging trip to Europe.

The Barbados Advocate reported the Caribbean Export exposed ICT and home and video producers from the region to business opportunities for them in London and Madrid respectively.

Williams said that there would be a follow-up meeting at an EU CARIFORUM business forum in Barbados on November 23 and 24.

There was also mention of ongoing programmes with Trade Facilitation Office Canada to promote health and wellness tourism and handicraft. These types of activities, although critical to export success were costly, Williams said.

The Executive Director added that he was currently in the process of organising a study tour to Ireland to expose senior trade and investment promotion officials to the Irish miracle, which has resulted in sustained success of the Irish economy over the last two decades.

Source: CNN

We don’t think we’ve ever seen that level of disrespect in an election EVER!!

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Source: TalkingPointsMemo.Com – MediaTakeOut.Com

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The American Embassy in Haiti says the U.S. will help rebuild a key bridge that collapsed during this summer’s devastating floods.

Embassy spokeswoman Mari Tolliver says construction is due to begin later this year on the Ennery bridge leading to the hard-hit northern coastal city of Gonaives.

She said Thursday that some traffic is crossing the riverbed, but only because United Nations equipment is there to repeatedly clear away the muck.

The Haitian government and the U.N. also are collaborating on the project, but financing details have not been released.

Four tropical storms that struck the poor Caribbean nation in late August and early September destroyed roads, bridges and homes. At least 793 people were killed.

Source: SignOnSanDiego.Com

A Stifel Nicolaus & Co. analyst maintained his ”Buy” rating on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL), saying the stock’s sell-off is overdone, despite increasing pressures on consumer discretionary spending.

The analyst noted Royal Caribbean’s shares have dropped more than 40 percent over the past five weeks. He said the sell-off appears overly dramatic.

The analyst believes a slowdown in bookings is already factored into the share price and estimates. He also said the Miami company has enough inventory booked already to provide “a sound cushion for the next six months.”

Source: MiamiHerald.Com