26 <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Times</strong> | 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, <strong>Caribbean</strong> 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 <strong>Caribbean</strong>, 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 <strong>Caribbean</strong> 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 <strong>Caribbean</strong>. 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.
27 <strong>Caribbean</strong> <strong>Times</strong> | November 3-16, 2016