Anguilla

MARIGOT, St. Martin — His Excellency David Comissiong, Barbados’ Ambassador to CARICOM, recently received The Presidents’ Award from the St. Martin Book Fair. The annual Award is the final highlight of the three-day St. Martin Literary Festival, said book fair coordinator Shujah Reiph.

The award of a US$10,000 prize grant from the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) Cultural and Creative Industries Innovation Fund (CIIF) was exactly the stimulus Kimon Baptiste-St. Rose’s enterprise needed to help launch its expansion in the region.

As the latest step in the Caribbean Development Bank’s efforts to help Caribbean governments get better value for money, the bank has launched a new phase of its public procurement reform programme with a workshop in the Virgin Islands.

Caribbean countries that live in fear of being blacklisted by the European Union should band together and take legal action, according to Barbados-based economist and Caribbean policy expert Marla Dukharan.

“I felt like there should be some legal recourse that should be pursued collectively,” Ms. Dukharan said on Feb. 23 on the regional livestreamed show “Territories Talk,” hosted by Shaina Smith-Archer, chairwoman of the BVI Chamber of Commerce and Hotel Association.

CDB’s Head of Procurement, Douglas Fraser.

The Virgin Islands has been added to the European Union’s “grey list” along with nine other jurisdictions in the Caribbean and elsewhere, the EU Council announced after its meeting on Feb. 24.

Besides the VI, the EU added the Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Israel, Montserrat, Russia, Tunisia, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Vietnam, bringing the total list up to 25 jurisdictions.

Last year was a “fantastic year” for Virgin Islands financial services, according to Simon Filmer, a BVI Finance board member and managing director of Vistra.

The maritime shipping giant Crowley has pulled out of parts of the Leeward Islands, but it will continue to serve the Virgin Islands, a company spokesman told the Beacon this week.

On Oct. 9, Crowley announced that it would cease shipping to much of the LeewardIslands at the end of that month.

Ministers of Health of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States(OECS) examined strategies to strengthen Ministries of Health at the 7th Annual meeting of the OECS Council of Ministers of Health convened virtually on Wednesday, November 24.

St Vincent and the Grenadines(SVG), was among states present at the meeting that was convened under the theme: Health System Strengthening and Laboratory Advocacy during the COVID-19 pandemic, chaired by Anguilla’s Premier and Minister of Health,Dr. Ellis Webster, a release states.

Consortium of Banks to acquire the banking operations of CIBC FirstCaribbean in 4 OECS countries

Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines (12 October 2021): Today, a Consortium of leading Banks in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the branches and banking operations of CIBC FirstCaribbean in Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The agreement executed on 12 October 2021 is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.