Caribbean Times 11.03.2016

26
Caribbean Times | November 3-16, 2016
oil
Continued from page 1
In July, ExxonMobil submitted a development
plan for Liza to Guyana’s Environmental
Protection Agency to begin
the environmental review process that
involved a floating production, storage
and offloading vessel with capacity of
around 100,000 barrels per day of oil in
its first phase.
Exxon says finding oil is a world-class
discovery with a recoverable resource of
between US$800 million and 1.4 billion
oil-equivalent barrels.
“We are excited by the results of a
production test of the Liza-2 well, which
confirms the presence of high-quality oil
from the same high-porosity sandstone
reservoirs that we saw in the Liza-1 well
completed in 2015,” Steve Greenlee,
president of Exxon Mobil Exploration
Company then said.
mUSEUM
Continued from page 1
ous past of the Jamaican music legend. A
narrative of Peter’s life and work, powerful
images, artefacts from his personal
and professional life, animation and video
displays are all on show at the museum.
The idea for a Tosh museum was
born several years ago when Marlene
Brown, a longtime companion of Tosh
approached Pulse chairman Kingsley
Cooper with a number of Peter Tosh
artefacts for safekeeping. Later, the Peter
Tosh Estate joined the partnership,
poultry
Continued from page 9
Speaking to journalists, Caribbean
sub-regional director of the Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Lystra
Fletcher-Paul, noted that countries
in the region should seriously consider
measures to prevent the importation of
certain unhealthy foods once they are
in a position to produce healthier substitutes.
She said that while the food import
bill of CARICOM nations reached almost
US$5 billion annually, at the same
time the peoples in these countries are
eating themselves to death with the extra-regional
food. Hypertension, heart
disease and diabetes are the deadliest
health issues in the Caribbean, she said.
The FAO representative stressed that,
providing guidance and direction on a
way forward towards making the idea of
the museum a reality. A prelude to the
public opening of the museum were a
number of special events- a VIP official
opening, a Tosh symposium at the University
of the West Indies and a tribute
concert in honor of the reggae superstar.
It is hoped that the cumulative impact of
these events will be a new beginning for
a more profound understanding of the
stature of Peter Tosh.
“I believe that Peter Tosh is a very
special human being deserving of a tremendous
amount of honor and respect,
and I feel that through this museum, the
spirit and the energy of my father will
when the region can produce and transport
high quality food that can substitute
for imported products, restriction
mechanisms should be put in place to
keep certain foods out.
According to Fletcher-Paul, within the
rules of the World Trade Organization
(WTO) there is room for countries to
ban certain foods. Government entities
such as the ministries of agriculture and
foreign affairs should have closer cooperation,
which would enable the countries
to take advantage of the WTO rules.
According to Nairne, there need to be
some kind of guideline or re-evaluation
of what currently exists to determine
what kind of food, including poultry, is
suitable to enter the Caribbean market.
The region, he added, could be saving
money or spend the money within the
region to raise poultry “here to help us
grow”.
be with us always”, his daughter Niambe
McIntosh said. Niambe flew in from
Boston for the celebration of her father,
and she was joined by other siblings and
family members, including her brother
Andrew Tosh who performed on the
tribute concert.
Museum opening hours are Monday
to Friday 10:30 AM to 7:00 PM. Saturday
hours are 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and
the attraction is closed on Sundays. Entry
fee is US$20 with reduced rates for
children and students in groups of 10 or
more with ID.
For more, go to www.petertosh.com
or call (876) 960-0049. diademata@aol.
com.
The manager stressed that, if the regional
farmers increase production, the
price of chicken would certainly drop.
“As you know, with increasing scale,
the unit prices will drop, which clearly
means that the more we produce the
more affordable the chicken will be,” he
said.
Three years ago, Jamaica Broilers was
operating only in Jamaica, now it is in
six countries selling “hormone-free”
products. Nairne noted that, while poultry
farms in the region are under strict
veterinary monitoring and regulation
about what is being exported, such is
not the case regarding chicken that is
brought to the Caribbean.
Although farmers don’t have a direct
influence on discussions in COTED, the
manager hoped that the “government
officials would speak on our behalves” at
the CARICOM table.
to advertise your business, or event contact us at (718) 909-1841
LIAT
Continued from page 3
and selling Dash Eights and paying severance
pay,” Gonsalves explained.
He also outlined that a number of reforms
had been implemented, as reported
in the press. The prime minister pointed
out that when he took up his position as
leader of St Vincent back in 2001, LIAT
had approximately 1,200 persons employed;
now it employed 669 individuals,
and the head count in the budget was for
630.
“Therefore, a review is being done at
the Board level, as we are looking at the
organisational structure to determine
what is the optimal number of employees
we must have going forward in order to
serve the entire network…,” he disclosed.
Gonsalves has identified “too many”
bouts of illness by flight crew, as one of
the major challenges plaguing the carrier.
“We have too many cancellations
caused by illness of flight staff and crew.
Most of the flight crew, the overwhelming
majority of them, are fit and hard workers
and smart workers, but … we have
too many bouts of illness, which result
in cancellations. We have, also of course,
the challenge, as I indicated earlier, of a
smaller number of aircraft serving essentially
the same markets…,” he lamented.
Explaining that they also had “weak
technology infrastructure systems” and
some ground handling systems that were
not optimal, the Vincentian leader noted
that although frontline staff were “doing
their best”, more training was required
to ensure that they were “better able” to
handle all of the challenges encountered
in dealing with an airline like LIAT.
Admitting that the network, based on
the number of routes and flights that the
airline served, was a complicated one, the
Chairman stated that the airline also had
“some really good performing routes”.
“You know when you go on your hit
parade you have your top 10, well we have
a top 10 also… our top 10 routes. But, we
also have routes that are non-performing
in the sense of generating negative contribution
margins,” he said.
The prime minister disclosed that the
priority actions to be taken by management
at LIAT included stabilising the
schedule by resolving operational challenges;
taking action to reduce crew sickness;
and communicating in a “sensitive”
way with the workers, pilots and other
professionals.
The meeting was also attended by Barbados
Prime Minister Freundel Stuart;
Minister of Tourism and International
Transport, Richard Sealy; and chairman
of LIAT, Dr Jean Holder.