Rashaed Esson

Staff Writer

#Jamaica, September 29, 2023 – As Jamaica battles a dengue outbreak, the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development is taking steps to fortify the country’s resilience to the mosquito borne disease.

The Department announced it will be providing funds for the emergency response to contain the dengue outbreak, according to Desmond McKenzie, Minister of Local Government, as reported by JIS.

McKenzie was in talks with Journalists at the Spanish Court Hotel in Kingston this past Wednesday, September 27th when he revealed that the resources will come from the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA).

In fact, work, he expressed, is already being done as he informed that discussions have started with Jamaica’s Minister of Health and Wellness to see to the roll out of clean-up programmes to ensure communities do not morph into breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

It was reported that: “International health authorities have reported elevated dengue fever activity across multiple areas in Jamaica, with more than 560 suspected cases (78 confirmed) reported Jan. 1-Sept. 22. This is compared to the 59 cases reported over a similar period in 2022. Majority of the confirmed cases were reported in Kingston, Saint Andrew, Saint Catherine, and Saint Thomas.  The Jamaican Ministry of Health & Wellness has deployed vector control workers across the island to high-risk communities.  This report represents the most complete data available as of Sept. 29.”

These clean up initiatives, the minister points out, will be in operation in the days to come and they will commence in areas identified by the Ministry of Health; the plan is to later extend the efforts other communities.

In continuation, Audley Gordon, Executive Director of the NSWMA, spoke of vulnerable areas which he termed the “problematic sites”, informing that they are scheduled for action, including the removal of bulky waste by his teams, adding that the “NSWMA is fully ready to play its part in what we are asked to do, starting this weekend”.

Not only will the programmes clean the respective areas, they will call community members to practice proper garbage disposal, as people often fail to acknowledge the importance of these hygienic habits.

Rashaed Esson

Staff Writer 

#USA, September 29, 2023 – Dr. Irfaan Ali, Guyanese president informed that the global aim for Net Zero by 2050 is unrealistic due to the cost of transition and the pace of the financing commitment thus far.

He was speaking at the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, providing  numerical data, which he shared with the other attending world leaders, as he backed up his reasoning.

Before going into intricate details, summing up the costs which led to his view of the unrealistic goal of net zero by 2050, President Ali brought forth what he described as “the critical question of a just, affordable and equitable transition.”

He starts, maintaining that Bloomberg, financial information, software and media firm Bloomberg, estimates that reaching the global net zero emissions status by 2050, roughly 26 years from now, would require annual investments that triple those of 2021, to $6.7 trillion annually.

Ali narrowed down his analysis and specifically referred to global temperature, now a major issue and worsening, saying that to limit its rise to less than two degrees Celsius, the [IEA] estimates that investments in the energy sector, on its own, would need to be increased by approximately 1 trillion dollars yearly.

In continuation, the Guyanese President referred to the issue of availability of electricity in developing countries, as close to 900 million people worldwide have no access to it, he says, adding that this is “against the backdrop of a widening financing gap in achieving the SDGs, one of which is for affordable and clean energy; another clear factor highlighting the unrealistic nature of reaching all the desired goals by 2050.

Ali further highlighted the money that would go “with adaptation alone, estimated at $160 to $340 billion by 2030 and $315 to $565 billion by 2050, he says, according to UNAP further bolster his point.

Moreover, with more than 90 countries, he says, committed to Net Zero emissions, achieving this goal would require even more changes than what are currently happening, adding that the IEA gauges that for it to be so by 2050, more than 85 percent of buildings “must be net zero carbon ready,” and over 90 percent heavy industrial production, must be low emissions and almost 70 percent electricity would need to be generated from solar [photovoltaic].

“Based on these targets, renewable share in the generation of electricity will have to increase from 29 percent in 2020, to 88 percent in 2050. Meanwhile, to remove carbon from the atmosphere, the world would need to simultaneously halt deforestation and increase tree cover, again two times faster by 2030.”

Considering this, he said by 2050, 7.6 gigatons of carbon will have to be captured and stored compared to 0.4 gigatons in 2020.

He then concluded with a powerful plethora of statistical info, doubling down on the unrealistic target the world has set.

“According to Mckenzie and Company, it would cost $375 trillion dollars, in cumulative spending on physical assets to transition to net zero by 2050.”

Firming up the point by the President of Guyana, that it is completely unrealistic that these even more monumental targets would be reached, when countries failed to achieve even lesser goals laid out since the Paris Accord, signed nearly a decade ago in 2015 by 196 nations.

The USA Caribbean Investment Forum took place over two days last week at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square. The event, hosted by the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (CAIPA) in partnership with representatives of the CARICOM Consular Corps (namely, the Consulates General of Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, St. Vincent & the Grenadines and Antigua & Barbuda), brought together government officials, investment promotion agencies, entrepreneurs, and business leaders from the Caribbean diaspora to connect, engage in thoughtful discussions, and explore investment opportunities throughout the Caribbean.

Fostering International Collaboration

The event featured distinguished speakers and representatives from both the US and Caribbean governments. Consuls General Mr. Mackie Holder (Barbados), Mr. Jerome Andre Laveau (Trinidad & Tobago), and Mr. Rondy McIntosh (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) along with Jeanette Moy, Commissioner of the NYS Office of General Services, Edward Mermelstein, NYC Commissioner of International Affairs, and Molly Bauer, Industry Development Associate from the NY Governor’s Office, shed light on the initiatives that New York City, which is home to so many Caribbean Diaspora, is implementing to support economic collaboration between the regions.

Engaging with Global Leaders

Hon. Kenneth Bryan, Minister for Tourism & Ports, Cayman Islands, and Chair of Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and Hon. E. Jay Saunders, Deputy Premier, Minister of Finance, Trade and Investment, Turks and Caicos Islands delivered insights via keynote speeches and held candid discussions during panel and Q&A sessions. The event served as a unique opportunity to communicate in an open and honest forum with two esteemed leaders from the Caribbean about investing in the region.

Promoting Investment Opportunities

CAIPA welcomed representatives from Invest Barbados, Invest Dominica, Grenada Investment Development Corporation (GIDC), InvesTT (Trinidad and Tobago), Invest Turks and Caicos, St. Kitts Investment Promotion Agency (SKIPA), Invest St. Lucia, Invest St. Vincent & the Grenadines, the Bahamas Investment Authority, the Curacao Investment and Export Promotion Agency (CINEX), and the Sint Maarten Ministry of Tourism, Economy, Transport and Telecommunications, to discuss various opportunities for investment in their respective countries and how their agencies support and facilitate potential investors.

Hearing Private Sector Success Stories

Private sector companies including the St. James School of Medicine, Century21 Guyana, Ethniv, and Homestrings joined the forum to discuss their current active projects in the Caribbean.  They detailed how they’ve worked with local governments and institutions to successfully launch and operate their businesses in the Caribbean, along with the potential opportunities for continued growth.

Understanding How Caribbean Financial Institutions Facilitate Investment

The Forum brought together key representatives from Caribbean financial and economic development institutions: IDB Lab (Ms. Magdalena Coronel, Chief Investment Officer), the National Commercial Bank Jamaica LTD (Mr. Jeffrey Brown, Head, Loans Structuring and Syndications), USAID (Mr. Mervyn Farroe, USAID representative for the Eastern and Southern Caribbean), and the Caribbean Development Bank (Ms. Lisa Harding, Private Sector Development Specialist) to detail how these organizations facilitate and support private investment in the Caribbean.

Forging Connections

Attendees had the opportunity to meet directly with CAIPA member countries during business meetings.  These one-on-one conversations were valuable opportunities to speak directly with key stakeholders in order to advance projects and forge direct relationships.

The inaugural USA Caribbean Investment Forum was a great success due to the collaboration and engagement from individuals representing a wide range of sectors, organizations, and countries – all united under the goal of driving economic growth in the Caribbean and taking advantage of the enormous opportunities available in the region.  

CAIPA and the representatives of the CARICOM Consular Corps are proud to have facilitated these conversations and supported deepening of relationships with key stakeholders throughout the US and the Caribbean.  We look forward to our next event, which will be held on 6-8 March in Miami (Caribbean Logistics Investment Conference 2024) – focused on attracting investments into logistics and transportation by sea and air as well as e-commerce logistics and industrial logistics parks throughout the Caribbean.  Stay tuned for more details!

If you or anyone you know is interested in joining the CAIPA mailing list, please visit: https://www.investincaribbean.org/news-center/sign-up-for-our-newsletter to sign up for our newsletter.