Republic Bank (Grenada) Limited announces new Director

Mr. Graham K. Williams

Businessman Mr. Graham K. Williams has a new appointment to his list of tasks and responsibilities.

Republic Bank (Grenada) Limited has announced his appointment to its Board of Directors. Williams appointment took effect from August 16, 2012. He replaces Mr. Gregory I. Thomson, who retired on March 18, 2012.  

Mr. Williams graduated from the University of Windsor in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics. On his return to Grenada in that year, he started work at Westerhall Estate Ltd. where he is currently the Managing Director.

In addition, he holds the following other positions: Chairman of the Board – Westerhall Estate Ltd., Chairman of the Board – Umbrella Beach Bar, Chairman of the Board – Island Ice Co., Director – TransNEMWIL Insur-ance (Grenada) Ltd. (LS)

Ian DaBreo heads GHTA

AT its 50th Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, October 30, 2012, held at the Grenadian by Rex Resorts, members of the Grenada Hotel & Tourism Association (GHTA) elected a new Board of Directors to carry on the important work of previous Boards.

New President, Ian DaBreo, promised to work vigorously on behalf of all members. In particular, he pledged to continue to lobby Government for concessions in order to keep the tourism industry from deteriorating further than it has already; and to work towards assisting Government to effectively market Grenada as a desired destination with adequate funding.

Unfortunately, the Minister of Tourism was unable to accept the GHTA’s invitation to speak at the meeting. However, Mrs. Alexandra Otway-Noel of the New National Party spoke briefly on issues related to the tourism industry, and what she felt was needed to turn the decline in visitor arrivals to Grenada around, and to assist the businesses in the industry to remain in business during this rather trying time. (LS)

Board members are as follows:
President – Ian DaBreo
Vice President – Russ Fielden
Lawrence Lambert CBE – Ordinary Director
Clive Barnes – Ordinary Director
Coleman Redhead – Ordinary Director
Jerry Rappaport – Associate Director
Christopher Edwards – Allied A Director
Ruel Edwards – Allied A Director
Gerlinde Seupel – Allied B Director
Craig Keller – Allied B Director
Sir Royston Hopkin KCMG – Honorary Director
Pancy Cross – Executive Director

Media features on Grenada win CTO UK media awards at WTM

FOUR editorial features about Grenada received accolades at the annual Caribbean Tourism Organisation Media Awards held on Monday, November 5 at the World Travel Market in London.

‘Foodtripper Grenada’, an hour-long documentary about Grenada’s spices, chocolate and cuisine, which was made for Travel Channel by food expert Helen Hokin, claimed the ‘Best Broadcast’ award. The ‘Fam Report Grenada’ by Laura Gelder for the travel trade magazine ‘Selling Long Haul’ won the ‘Best Travel Trade Feature’. In addition, blog features by Jayne Gorman on www.40before30.com and a destination feature by Katie McGonagle for Travel Weekly were highly commended in the ‘Best Blog Feature’ and ‘Best Travel trade Feature’ categories respectively.

The awards are judged by an independent panel drawn from the travel and media industries, and winning entries must deliver engaging, eloquent stories that encourage consumers to visit the island.

Sharon Bernstein, Grenada Board of Tourism’s General Manager UK & Ireland said: “It is an incredible motivation for Grenada to receive this acknowledgement from the independent judges. The accolades demonstrate the quality of editorial material generated to promote Grenada here in the UK, and we are grateful to all the stakeholders in Grenada who support our efforts to achieve success.”

Current projects designed to market Grenada include visits by TV crews making programmes about nutmeg and Grenadian cuisine; ongoing support for specialist dive, food and lifestyle media; and visits by leading newspapers, including The Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph and The Independent. (LS)

Wanted man caught in neighbouring St. Vincent

THE man wanted by police for a number of financial and cyber crimes was caught in St. Vincent, and preparations are being made to have him returned to Grenada for trial.

Alistair Stanislaus was already facing a number of other charges related to armed robberies when he apparently engaged in financial fraud using automatic banking machines. The accounts, police said, were cloned using card readers and the accused is believed to have removed thousands from various accounts.

Police believe that Stanislaus is not acting alone but is part of a financial international organised crime group. He is expected to be deported from St. Vincent because there is no legal documentation of him entering that country.

Following the publicising of the issue, the Grenada Bankers Association has issued a statement explaining that in recent months, some local as well as regional banks have become aware of fraudulent activities at some of their Automatic Banking Machines (ABMs).

The type of fraud, according to the statement, is known as “skimming” – a process whereby criminals manage to capture personal information from the magnetic strip on the back of customers’ credit and debit cards with the intention of later using the information to access customers’ accounts via ABM and other electronic channels including the Internet.

“The devices used can be smaller than a deck of cards and are often fastened in close proximity to or over the top of an ABM’s factory-installed card reader and or the door slots to the ABM rooms,” the GBA explained.

He added that skimming is a global issue and one which the Grenada Bankers Association and, by extension, the Regional Financial Services Industry, are working together to prevent.

Warning customers to be extremely cautious when using their debit/credit cards, the statement recommends that customers immediately contact their bank should their card become stuck in an ABM or if they notice any suspicious activity on their account.

“Additionally, we urge the public to select unique PINs and passwords for each banking card and to memorise these numbers rather than writing them down or sharing them with others. We further advise customers when using their cards, to cover the keypad with their other hand or lean in to block the view when entering their PIN so that their details are not captured by camera or by someone observing their actions,” said the statement. (LS)

Military training taking place in Grand Etang Reserve

By Linda Straker

THE Grand Etang Forest Reserve is the location for a three week United States–Regional Security System (US/RSS) led Command Patrol Training that began on Monday and will involve participants from the OECS territories.

“The exercise is a friendly one and persons should not be fearful of the operations,” said a statement from the Community Relations Department of the Police Force which also advised that during the period 7-8 November, 2012 there was to be ammunition training in the said area.

The training is expected to end on November 30th 2012 and during the period participants dressed in military attire with riffles will be deployed in the area. The training is part of sporadic training for those who attach to the special services units in the OECS. It is basically, to prepare them for any eventualities in which their services will be required. This will include natural disaster, civil unrest and war.

British High Commission announces Chevening scholarships for Barbados and Eastern Caribbean

Three of the Chevening Scholars (from left to right)
Karina Johnson of Grenada, Kenrod Roberts of St. Kitts
and Nevis and Jovan Reid of Barbados.

THE British High Commission has announced that the UK’s Chevening Scholarships scheme will open from 29 October 2012 for students wishing to study in the UK in the academic year 2013-2014.

Applications will be accepted online from nationals of Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean who wish to pursue fully funded postgraduate studies at an academic institution in the UK.

The Chevening Scholarships scheme is the global scholarship programme of the British government.The Scholar-ships are awarded to exceptional individuals with leadership potential who come from 116 countries worldwide.

They enable recipients to study one-year Masters courses in a range of subjects at UK universities. The Scholarships are funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and aim to support UK foreign policy priorities by creating lasting positive relationships with future leaders, influencers and decision makers.

The Chevening programme has, over 26 years, provided more than 30 000 scholarships at Higher Education Institutions in the UK for postgraduate students or researchers from countries across the world. Chevening scholarships are prestigious and sought after awards aimed at extremely capable individuals who have already made an impact and are motivated to pursue a career that will take them to a position of leadership within their own country or region.

Three of the members of the St. Lucia Cabinet are Chevening alumni, as well as many other leaders in different spheres in the region. There are four Eastern Caribbean Chevening Scholars currently studying a range of subjects at universities in London and Edinburgh.

Nationals of Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean should go to www.Chevening.org to register interest or apply. The opening date was Monday 29 October and closing date is Friday, December 7, after which no further applications will be accepted.

Nationals of the following countries are eligible to apply – Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

New ways needed to conclude WTO trade negotiations

New ways must be found to bring World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations to a close as quickly as possible.

This is according to Professor Dickson Yeboah, Head of the Intensive Trade Negotiations Skills Unit at the Institute for Training and Technical Co-operation, WTO who said that this would result in a cost-free incentive for the world economy.

Professor Dickson Yeboah, Head of the Intensive Trade Negotiations
Skills Unit at the Institute for Training and Technical Co-operation,
World Trade Organisation (WTO) speaking at the Regional Advanced
Trade Negotiations Simulation Skills Course for Caribbean Countries
recently at the Hilton Hotel in Barbados.

Speaking at the Regional Advanced Trade Negotiations Simulation Skills Course for Caribbean Countries recently at the Hilton Hotel, he said that the cheapest method in which to accomplish competitiveness enhancement is through free trade, which was discussed at the last Ministerial Conference of the WTO.

“Key Members have given some political indications as to the pathway, such as the services negotiations among a subset of the membership. Smaller groups in variable geometry and bilateral contacts are deemed necessary and essential. At the 8th Ministerial Conference held in Geneva, Ministers were of the view that new pathways would need to be explored to conclude the negotiations. Free trade could serve as the largest economic stimulus package to revive the global economy and fight poverty. We need to conclude the negotiations to secure the credibility of the multilateral system. We need to reach convergence on a number of issues in Agriculture, NAMA, Services and Rules.”

He stated that international agreements require four characteristics, all of which the WTO have in place. These are political will, a target, a procedure to negotiate a deal and an enforcement system. All that is necessary now is “catalysing the political will to complete the negotiations”.

Some of the regional delegates at the Regional Advanced
Trade Negotiations Simulation Skills Course for Caribbean Countries.

Yeboah said that progress must be made in market access for such areas as non-agricultural products and services as well as policy package on development. This would then lead to moving ahead with more vitality and clearer objectives when it comes to closing trade negotiations successfully.

The Head stated that different negotiation offers submitted by various WTO members or groups of them have usually been contingent on counter offers from other members and in order for these negotiations to conclude, members would have to demonstrate a greater compliance to oblige the needs and interests of other members at the negotiation table.

It should also be one where as members of the WTO, countries have trade liberalisation enhancement.

“As Members of the WTO, countries have a stake in the multilateral trading system and can influence it. At the same time, an effective multilateral trading system should give governments the capacity to keep their own domestic markets open or to liberalise them further, according to their trade, financial and development needs. Liberalising trade means increasing individuals’ range of choice. Free trade is not a flood which sweeps away jobs and national standards, but rather an irrigation system for growth whose channels are the negotiated rules of the multilateral trading system.” (PT)