Black Immigrant Daily News

The president of Guyana, Irfaan Ali has sought to assure the United States that his country is ready to guarantee America’s energy security.

He made the statement as members of the Congressional House Ways and Means Committee are here, laying the groundwork to displace China as a preferred business partner in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“I even asked the Congressional delegation to ensure that Guyana and the US can advance the strategic partnership formally on energy security for the United States and Guyana and climate security and on food security,” he said.

Following a meeting with Ali, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, Jason Smith issued a statement in which he said that the aim of the Biden administration is to lead the way in developing, extracting, and selling Guyanese oil and that this increasing production has the potential to greatly benefit both the US and Guyana, and help thwart China’s attempts to achieve energy dominance.

“China also is participating in Guyana’s oil production. America must be committed to outcompeting China around the world while strengthening key American supply chains, increasing US production of affordable energy resources, and improving partnerships with allies in the Western Hemisphere and beyond. Our delegation’s meetings have shown how US bilateral relationships in the region benefit American workers and provide a much-needed alternative to countries that might otherwise orient their economies toward China,” he said in a statement.

In their meetings with the Congressional delegation, the government of Guyana as well as members of the opposition discussed relations with China and Venezuela. Chinese companies have over the decades won major infrastructural contracts and provided multimillion dollar loans.

Ali, in referring to the United States as a “trusted partner”, he said that Guyana is open to more American investors.

“Guyana is and will continue to be an important strategic partner of the United States and the opportunities here are open to all and open to the United States and your private sector and we want to see greater participation from the US private sector and the US here in Guyana. There is no second-guessing this agenda. This is a clear strategy of the government.”

Concerning climate change, Ali offered to provide “global” leadership in the area of climate services by teaming up with the US at the next global climate summit, Conference of the Parties”.

“We want the US to be a part of this, we want the US to be a strategic partner with us on the environment because we understand the importance of this relationship,” he said.

Meanwhile, US Ambassador to Guyana Sarah-Ann Lynch lauded the Guyana government for taking steps to modernise the country.

“We applaud the government of Guyana for the strides it has taken to make this country so attractive to investors. They have been excellent partners in energy, in agri-business and in security. They are taking bold leaps to transform the financial, education, health and tourism sectors,” she said.

The delegation from the United States comprised chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Smith and other members Terri Sewell, Carol Miller, Michelle Fischbach, Beth Van Duyne, Mike Carey as well as Kelly Armstrong of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

High-level delegations from several Member States of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) will participate this week in the Blue Justice Conference 2023, billed by organizers as the largest global high-level event on transnational organised crime in the global fishing industry. The Blue Justice Caribbean Hub–to be housed in Jamaica–will also be launched at the high-level event.

Officials from twelve CRFM Member States–Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and The Turks and Caicos Islands–will be among the participants from approximately 80 countries and territories expected to attend the hybrid event, slated for 23-24 March 2023, in UN City, Copenhagen, Denmark.

The CRFM–the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) institution which leads the region’s efforts to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and transnational organized crime in fishing industry–is among the partners joining the Government of Norway and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in convening the international conference.

Mr. Milton Haughton, CRFM Executive Director, will deliver official remarks at the Opening Ceremony on Thursday, 23 March, and will subsequently speak with Conference attendees about regional cooperation mechanisms in the Caribbean.

Haughton said: “The Blue Justice Initiative offers our countries significant opportunities to obtain intelligence, improve maritime domain awareness, access technical assistance, and strengthen national and regional capacities to better monitor and protect our marine resources and combat fisheries crimes, including illegal fishing. We are very grateful for the support being provided by the Blue Justice Initiative and the Government of Norway and other Nordic countries to support our countries in turning the tide against fisheries crime in the region and globally.”

During the conference’s high-level session, delegates from several participating CRFM Member States will present their “Country insights”. This segment of the conference will conclude with a discussion on governance and space technology in support of SDG 14 (Life Below Water) and SDG 16 (Peace, justice and strong institutions).

Conference side events will be held on the Blue Enforcement Project (UNODC) – “Understanding gender roles in tackling crimes in the fisheries sector in Sri Lanka and Maldives”, and the Blue Fairness Project (ILO/UNODC/IOM) – “Using data to inform policies to combat trafficking for forced labour in fishing”.

The second day of the Blue Justice Conference, Friday, 24 March, is dedicated to the Blue Justice Action Forum. During that event, CRFM Member States will participate in a tabletop exercise.

The CRFM solidified its partnership with Norway and the Blue Justice Initiative in 2022, when 12 Member States signed the International Declaration on Transnational Organized Crime in the Global Fishing Industry (the Copenhagen Declaration) en bloc and pledged their support for the Blue Justice Initiative.

To date, fifty-one countries have signed the Copenhagen Declaration, and other countries have been invited to likewise sign the agreement at the upcoming conference and to join the Blue Justice Initiative. Dominica, a CRFM Member State, intends to sign the declaration at the event and join the global effort against transnational crime in the fishing industry.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland KC, has launched a new website, YourCommonwealth.org, for young leaders to collaborate, promote their innovations and initiatives, and advocate for action on youth development.

In addition to a more modern look, the website continues to provide a dedicated space for Young Commonwealth Correspondents and now has dedicated microsites for the Commonwealth’s 13 youth networks.

Unveiling the new website at the Commonwealth Youth Network Summit in London, the Secretary-General said: “This initiative is yet another example of our commitment to our young leaders and the 1.5 billion young people they represent. This website will provide them with more tools to share their ideas and solutions to some of the most challenging development issues. In addition, they can achieve their goals by combining their talent, innovation and initiatives.”

She added: “This launch is part of our celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Commonwealth Youth Programme. The website will also play a critical role in amplifying our Year of Youth, a landmark declaration by our 56 Heads of Government at their summit last year. At its heart, it recognises the power of our youth and acknowledges that we will certainly fail to achieve our sustainable development goals if we do not empower and engage our young people and prioritise them in all aspects of our development work.”

The new site is an upgrade of the long-running YourCommonwealth.org website – a dedicated platform for more than 70 Young Commonwealth correspondents, made up of commentators as well as practising and aspiring journalists. To bolster its talent pool, the Commonwealth Secretariat is inviting young people, aged 15-29, to apply to become a Commonwealth Young Correspondent.

In 2012, the website was named ‘Communicator of the Year’ in the Nexus Commonwealth Awards. Head of Social Policy, Layne Robinson, coordinated the website in collaboration with young people from across the Commonwealth and staff members from the communications and youth divisions.

“The vision was to give young people from all over the Commonwealth the opportunity to air their views on events and challenges in their country and globally. This gives us a unique insight into issues and experiences on the ground and the opportunity to respond with targeted initiatives and programmes,” said Mr Robinson.

Commonwealth Senior Communications and Engagement Officer Natricia Duncan, who worked with the youth leaders across the networks to manage the upgrade, said the aim was to create a multimedia collaboration space.

She said: “Though our thirteen networks are each dedicated to a different issue, such as health, education, disability and climate change, collaboration among them is critical to the success of their campaigns and initiatives. Therefore, we focussed the upgrade on creating the architecture to accommodate more multimedia and creative content and providing a platform where the networks can synergise and co-create.”

Coordinator of the Commonwealth Correspondents, Chimaobi Omeye, said the upgrade would boost an already powerful platform.

He added: “We already engage thousands of young people through thought-provoking articles, and the tools available from this website will enable us to multiply this number and extend our reach. This is also an opportunity for youth networks across the Commonwealth to further collaborate with the correspondents to share their voices, ideas stories, and hopes.”

Clare Keizer, the new editor of the website, added: “We are really excited about this new platform because it is an important part of our strategy to hone the skills of our correspondents, raise the profile of our networks and increase their membership. We will work to ensure that every young person in the Commonwealth is aware of this amazing resource and the opportunities it provides.”

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The regional UWI community is saddened by the news of the passing of retired Campus Registrar of its Cave Hill Campus, Andrew Gordon Lewis, one of the Campus’s foundation students who went on to become a leading and much revered administrator at the institution.

The Cave Hill stalwart whose career at The University of the West Indies spanned over 25 years, is fondly remembered for his dedication to the institution, masterful planning, avid mentorship, gentle manner, infectious laughter, and as a campus “icon” and “a true giant in the Cave Hill pantheon.”

Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles remembered the late registrar as “a very special specimen of a citizen” and “strategic planner extraordinaire” while Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the Cave Hill Campus, Professor R. Clive Landis noted that the high qualities Mr. Lewis pursued are now interwoven into the fabric of the campus.

Lewis was a member of the Campus’s first student cohort in 1963 and later joined the Cave Hill staff in 1980 after spending some time in the public service. After his formal retirement from Cave Hill in 2003, he remained to serve as Director of Planning and Special Projects enabling the campus’s expansion to benefit from the richness of his knowledge and his devotion to the institution. He was largely responsible for charting much of the strategies for development, and for guiding the projects for Cave Hill’s physical expansion, felt by many to be an enduring contribution to the Campus.

He truly mastered the “operations and complexities” of The UWI. From funding proposals and negotiations to design and coordination, he was instrumental in the transformative development of 33 acres of land at Black Rock which now boast the Usain Bolt Sporting Complex, the School for Graduate Studies and Research and the Keith Hunte Hall.

Responsibility for the expansion of Cave Hill’s built environment extended beyond the Black Rock or Lazaretto Lands, however, to include the Faculty of Medical Sciences, the Clico Centre for Teaching Excellence and the Sagicor Centre for Lifelong Learning, among numerous other notable initiatives.

In 2006, Lewis was awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Special Award for Outstanding and Distinguished Service to the University, at that time the second recipient of such an honour in the history of The UWI.

Colleagues who served with him, including academics and administrators, remember his warm and keen mentorship, his guidance towards appreciating the values and phenomenal contribution of The UWI and his example, which helped to shape a culture adherence to standards of the highest quality.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

A massive collection of seaweed that is said to have grown in the Atlantic Ocean is making its way toward Florida’s shores and other Gulf of Mexico coastlines, potentially depositing deadly masses over beaches and significantly affecting the summer travel season.

It is said that the seaweed, a variety called sargassum, has long generated substantial blooms in the Atlantic.

According to reports, scientists have been monitoring significant accumulations since 2011, but this year’s sargassum mass spans more than 5,000 miles from the coast of Africa to the Gulf of Mexico.

Reports say it could be the largest on record.

According to Dr. Brian Lapointe, a researcher at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, the blob is currently pushing west and will pass through the Caribbean and up into the Gulf of Mexico during the summer.

He said that the seaweed is expected to become prevalent on beaches in Florida around July.

He further mentioned that in Barbados, locals were clearing the beaches of seaweed using 1,600 dump trucks per day to make them suitable for tourists and recreation on the beaches.

He also noted that this new phenomenon of the ocean is harming tourism in the Caribbean where it accumulates on beaches up to 5 or 6 feet deep.

Lapointe said that the sargassum bloom this year started to emerge early and doubled in size between December and January, adding that it was greater in January than it has ever been since this new zone of sargassum development began in 2011.

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