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Minister Grant Calls For A Broad Global Alliance To Advance The Cause of Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

Published: 4 April 2017

22^nd March 2017, Ministry of Foreign Affairs — Minister Grant made a call for a broad global alliance to advance the cause of SIDS at the 3^rd Crans Montana Forum held in Dakhla, Morocco. The Tourism Minister was at the time addressing a high level audience of SIDS representatives from various regions around the world at the Extraordinary Conference of Small Island Developing States being convened as part of the Forum.

The conference focussed on the global integration of SIDS as the new dynamic actors of South-South cooperation and highlighted the impact of climate change on agriculture and tourism industries.

Minister Grant’s intervention, concentrated mainly on the effects of climate change on the tourism sector, also called for the inclusion of sustainable tourism to be embedded within the broader framework of the critical range of interrelated sustainable development initiatives.

In concert with the Caribbean leaders, including the Foreign Minister of Jamaica and the Economic Development Minister of St. Lucia, Minister Grant summoned global and collective action to combatting the detrimental effects of climate change on the tourism sector in the Caribbean and urgent implementation of climate adaptation and mitigation strategies.

Other interventions were made by the Prime Minister of Vanuatu, the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, and the Deputy Prime Minister of Samoa.

Minister Grant also attended a special luncheon in honour of CARICOM Countries, hosted by the Government of Morocco. Also, Minister Grant enjoyed a brief encounter with Morocco’s Ambassador to the Federation, His Excellency Kamari Abderrahim.

The Forum is considered a platform for advocating and accelerating the dialogue on avenues for south-south cooperation. Moreover, it creates an awareness and promotes the Kingdom of Morocco as a gateway towards deepening our relations with other countries on the African continent.

Further, it provides opportunities to strengthen bilateral cooperation between the Federation and Morocco, one of the Federation’s closest partners in south-south cooperation.

Ms. Asha DeSuza, Foreign Service Officer and Mr. Mohammed Benchekroun, St. Kitts and Nevis’ Honorary Consul to Morocco comprised the delegation.

Local news, News, Politics

Operation Rescue Maintaining Watchdog Role

Published: 3 April 2017

St Kitts and Nevis (WINN): Operation Rescue officials have vowed to press on with their watchdog role, despite criticism coming from the Team Unity administration.

The criticisms are directed mainly at former government minister Dwyer Astaphan, who has been urging the administration to speed up the process of implementing good government measures including integrity in public life legislation and a freedom of information act.

Astaphan and his colleague Richard Caines host a weekly Operation Rescue radio programme in which Astaphan occasionally criticizes the government on the good governance issue.

Could that explain why Mr Caines is being officially recognized by Dr Harris while Astaphan hasn’t been.

International news, Local news, News, Politics, Regional News

US Ambassador Offers Advice To Caribbean States

Published: 3 April 2017

St Kitts and Nevis (WINN): St Kitts and Nevis and other Caribbean nations are getting some advice on measures that should be taken in their quest to strengthen their economies.

US Ambassador Linda Taglialatela, who heads the American Embassy in Bridgetown, says regional states are having a hard time like the rest of the world.

She is of the view however, that there are measures that can be taken to help islands she labels very proud Caribbean nations move forward economically despite existing hardships.

“Each island needs to have a long term plan, I think first they need to not only look at building additional hotels and attracting more tourism but look at infrastructure. Work on their roads, work on their schools, look at ways to diversify out of the tourism sector. I realize that’s probably the biggest and primary source of revenue but they need to look beyond that. I know that St Kitts and Nevis is looking at geothermal energy, I think they do need to diversify to get their energy costs down and they need to find ways to attract business, both private and foreign investors in their country. There are some issues with youth unemployment which leads to the risk of youths turning to crime, I think you need to address how we’re going to deal with it but I think on a whole, each of them has a plan it’s just a matter getting to the point of implementing.”

Ambassador Taglialatela is expecting continued good relations between the Caribbean and the United States.

“I think that the Caribbean has a lot to offer to the world and has a lot to offer the United States as far as a partnership goes. I think that we will continue to have a good relationship and I think that there has to be a good partnership and collaboration between the United States and the Caribbean. We have over 2 million Americans coming to the Caribbean every year and a number of dual citizens living both in the United States and here in the Caribbean and there will always be a close tie between the two areas.”

Local news, News

Student Athletes Must Balance Academics And Sports To Be Successful

Published: 3 April 2017

St Kitts and Nevis (WINN): Track & Field has countless opportunities for students to secure a promising future, but they can easily lose these opportunities if academics are not prioritized.

This is according to Virgil Hodge, Assistant Coach of the Washington Archibald High School track & field team.

Ms. Hodge is speaking from experience as a former student athlete, Olympian and current national record-holder in 100m and 200m categories.

“My advice to them is stay in school, get an education. Once you are not doing well in school you are going to be ineligible and you can’t compete if you are ineligible in college [or] university and be disciplined, you have to be disciplined to the sport, you have to be disciplined to your academics.”

A student athlete and a coach speaking to WINN FM at the 41st edition of the TDC Inter-School Championship discussed the difficulties of balancing schoolwork with athletic training.

“The demands of athletics in terms of training, sometimes can take them away from their schoolwork, so I think it’s difficult from them to know when to put aside the sports and focus on their schoolwork or vice versa” said the coach.

“Yes, because at times I am kind of tired, but I still have to push myself because then at the end of it all, I’ll excel, because I want to go to a university.”

A coach from Sandy Point High School’s Track & Field team said that schools try their best to ensure that student athletes are properly managing both their academic and athletic responsibilities.

“At this present moment there is a balance, we ensure outright that athletics and education is balanced out so we don’t necessarily have a problem with that we just ensure that it’s really balanced out.”

The Charles E. Mills Secondary School retained their status as the defending champions of the TDC Inter-School Championships for the fourth consecutive time, winning 31 gold medals, 25 silver medals, and 12 bronze medals.

Horoscope

Thought of the day

April 4, 2017

Good morning my dear families and friends and hope that we all had a good night’s rest.

The thought for today says ” You fall, you rise, you make mistakes,
you live, you learn.
You’re human, not perfect.
You’ve been hurt, but you’re alive.
Think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive to breathe, to think, to enjoy, and to be with people you love. Sometimes there is sadness in our journey, but there is also lots of beauty.We must keep putting one foot in front of the other
even when we hurt, for we will never know what is waiting for us just around the bend.” Have a blessed Monday and a Productive week ahead.
Today’s Tip

“If we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.”