Category: CANA News

A survey by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has found that employment quality in Latin America and the Caribbean reached its highest level in 2024, surpassing pre-pandemic levels for the first time.

‘Latin America and the Caribbean has made important progress in employment quality and job creation, but not necessarily in transforming jobs. The record level we see today also shows how much remains to be done,’ said Oliver Azuara, Labour Market specialist of the IDB.

‘Half of the region’s workers continue to be in informal employment and earn incomes that do not allow them to escape poverty,’ he added.

But despite the improvement, the region still faces significant challenges with seven in 10 workers do not contribute to social security, and young people face greater difficulties in accessing good jobs.

These are the main findings of the 2026 edition of the ‘Better Jobs Index,’ produced by the IDB’s Labour Observatory and which analysed labour market trends across 17 countries using data from 2010 to 2024.

The regional Better Jobs Index increased from 54.9 to 58 points between 2010 and 2024, driven primarily by improvements in income. The indicator measuring whether wages are sufficient to keep workers out of poverty rose from just over 40 points to more than 50 during this period.

The indicator measuring employment quantity remained stable at 75.4 points. Despite these gains, progress in job quality remains insufficient, at just 40.6 points out of 100: informality stood at 69 per cent, and approximately half of the working-age population still faced labor poverty.

The improvement in quality was driven largely by rising labour income. The living-wage adequacy indicator increased from just over 40 points in 2010 to more than 50 in 2024. Formality also improved, but at a much slower pace, rising from approximately 27 to nearly 31 points over the same period.

The study, which presents the latest data from the index, analyses labour market trends in 18 Latin American and Caribbean countries between 2010 and 2024 across two dimensions namely employment quantity, measured through labour force participation and employment rates and employment quality, measured through formality and living-wage adequacy.

The Index measures, on a scale of 0 to 100, how many people are working and the quality of their jobs. It combines two dimensions: quantity, which considers how many people participate in the labor market and how many are employed; and quality, which considers whether those jobs are formal and provide sufficient income for households to rise above the poverty line.

A country scoring 100 points would have its entire working-age population employed in formal jobs with sufficient income. The IDB’s Labour Observatory calculates the Index using household survey data, with a comparable series dating back to 2010.

The findings point to a challenge that goes beyond creating new jobs. While differences across countries in employment quantity have narrowed, gaps in job quality have widened. This dynamic underscores the need to accelerate the transformation of existing jobs into higher-quality employment.

The report identifies five priorities for moving in this direction: reducing informality; expanding social protection and pension coverage; scaling up best practices developed in the region; strengthening skills development in coordination with the private sector; and leveraging artificial intelligence to boost productivity and improve employment quality.

Progress across the region has been uneven. Young people continue to face greater challenges both in accessing the labor market and in finding quality employment.

In 2024, the gap between young people and adults reached 13.6 points in employment quality and 6.3 points in quantity. The quality gap is evident across all countries covered by the report: once they enter the labor market, young people tend to work in less formal jobs, with lower incomes and less social protection.

Men continue to have higher labour force participation and employment rates. The results show that these differences are concentrated primarily in access to the labour market, rather than in employment conditions once women enter it.

The IDB said that the Better Jobs Index makes it possible to compare labor market trends across the region on a scale from 0 to 100 and provides data disaggregated

More than 1,300 Jamaicans were deported from the United States and other countries last year, with the majority being returned for immigration violations and criminal offences, according to the latest Economic and Social Survey Jamaica (ESSJ).

The report, published by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), revealed that 1,317 Jamaicans were involuntarily returned to the island in 2025, including 967 from the United States, nearly double the 486 deported from that country in 2024.

Another 255 were deported from other countries, while Canada accounted for 70 and the United Kingdom 25.

The survey showed that 610 Jamaicans were deported for immigration-related violations, including illegal entry, overstaying and unlawful re-entry. Of these, 376 were returned from the United States and 184 from other countries.

Criminal offences also accounted for a significant number of deportations.

The report indicated that 60 Jamaicans were deported for murder, manslaughter or attempted murder, including 52 from the United States.

Another 95 were returned for firearm-related offences, 134 for wounding, assault or battery, and 171 for drug possession.

Additionally, 64 Jamaicans were deported for fraud or offences involving false documents, while 63 were returned for sex-related crimes.

The ESSJ provides an annual assessment of Jamaica’s economic and social developments, including migration trends and deportation statistics.

At least 100 members of El Salvador’s special forces have arrived in Haiti following a warning by President Nayib Bukele for those responsible for abducting four Salvadorian soldiers last week to release them immediately.

The troops arrived here on Thursday to assist in the search for their colleagues, who have been missing since Sunday amid a warning that another 100 Salvadoran soldiers could be sent to Port-au-Prince in the coming days.

El Salvador has deployed military personnel as part of the United Nations authorised Gang Suppression Force (GSF) in Haiti whose mission is to neutralize gangs in Port-au-Prince, secure infrastructure, protect civilians, and support humanitarian aid alongside Haitian forces.

On October 18, armed members of the Chèn Méchan and 400 Mawozo gangs ambushed an armored vehicle carrying the four Salvadoran soldiers in the Santo area of Croix-des-Bouquets as they returned from a supermarket.

The attackers hit the vehicle with gunfire and explosives, forcing the men to flee before losing contact. The area where the attack took place is a known gang stronghold near Port-au-Prince where armed groups control an estimated 70 per cent of the territory.

President Bukele has called on the gangs to release the men saying they not combatants, but ‘aeronautical technicians working as part of our mission in Haiti, an international mission.

‘Our team consists exclusively of pilots and technical personnel; their primary role is to carry out medical evacuations and save lives, not to wage war. Yet, you abducted them in a cowardly manner while they were returning from buying provisions at a local supermarket .’

He said El Salvador has launched a military operation to rescue them and they soldiers have ‘only one objective, to ensure that our four compatriots return home safe and sound.’

He issued a warning to the gang leaders that the response will ‘nothing compared to what awaits you if you do not release the four hostages, safe and sound.

‘And do not mistake our words for empty threats. We have dealt with gangs in El Salvador before, and we are fully capable of doing the same with you. There is still time to avoid this.

Return our four compatriots to us, safe and sound, and everything will go back to the way it was before the abduction. The decision is in your hands.’

The soldiers have not yet been released or found.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Friday reported that armed violence continues to drive displacement in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.

‘ According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 7,000 people have fled Petite-Rivière in Artibonite over the last four days, while more than 3,000 others have been displaced in the commune of Arcahaie in the West Department,’ said Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres.

He told the daily UN press birefing that in Artibonite, the latest displacement adds to an already ‘worsening situation that we tell you about almost every day.

‘More than 17,000 human beings were displaced in that department alone last month, with many families finding refuge within the community, staying with host families, as movements within towns remain severely disrupted due to ongoing insecurity. We and our partners are working with local authorities to monitor the situation and assess urgent needs.’

Dujarric said that humanitarian needs, as it should be obvious to all, continue to grow.

‘The 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for Haiti is only 49 per cent funded. More money is needed, and that is rather urgent,’ he said.

The executive director of the Barbados-based Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export), Dr. Damie Sinanan says he is pleased that the Caribbean Investment Forum (CIF) has grown into ‘a beast of its own’ and that there has been ‘no shortage of great ideas in the Caribbean region’.

But Sinanan believes that there is need for new initiatives to fund projects in the Caribbean, noting for example ‘we don’t really do a lot of equity investments in the Caribbean.

‘We don’t have a lot of venture capital funds in the region.We don’t have that patient capital,’ he told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) adding that when good ideas are brought up ‘to bring them to fruition, you need patient capital, investors that will wait one and two years to see this process through and give different tracks to funding.

‘We don’t have that available. We have to really diversify our funding sources in the region if we are to make a big dent going forward,’ he added.

CIF 2026 was held earlier this month in Barbados and Caribbean Export said it successfully shifted the Caribbean’s narrative from a ‘talk shop’ to an execution platform focused on capital deployment.

Caribbean Export said that the three-day event was able to align direct investor engagement with major regional priorities, including the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM’s) goal to slash the six billion US dollar regional food import bill.

It said that the CIF 2026 was able to amplify Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley’s keynote call to activate the estimated US$80 billion in regional commercial bank liquidity and savings to fuel indigenous Caribbean growth.

According to CIF the event advanced a curated pipeline of 30 pre-qualified, bankable projects valued at US$172 million, featured alongside a live stage pitch of US$39 million in immediate high-impact deals.

Sinanan told CMC that said the CIF has evolved from 2022 to what was just held only a couple of weeks ago in Barbados, and ‘our aim has always been to place investable projects in front of investors that attend.

‘And in order to do that, we have to work very, very closely with project owners, giving them the technical assistance necessary so that they can build their project to make it investable in order to present it to an investor.

‘We’ve been very good at doing that. We’ve partnered with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). We’ve partnered with other organisations that offer that technical assistance, and we have a project catalogue right now of over US$80 million, a project value of over 80 million US dollars of bankable investable projects.’

Sinanan said it really means that you’re putting something in front of an investor that makes sense to them.

‘An investor, when he sees a project proposal, he wants to know if I put my money in, what are the next steps and when can I get my money out and how much can I get my money out? So it’s important to understand that’s how an investor thinks.

‘So when you are packaging your project, if you’re a Caribbean project owner, you’re packaging your project, you have to make sure that you can answer all the questions that an investor wants to have. So, structure your project, structure your financials.

‘It’s not just a business plan. Unfortunately, we put business plans out there and think that that’s an investable project. You have to have cash flow. You have to have realistic cash flow. You have to have risk assessment. You have to show an investor that you’ve taken all steps to make sure that their money is protected,’ Sinanan told CMC, adding ‘and it’s not hard, it’s just we have to get used to doing it in the Caribbean region.’

He acknowledged that there are various problems in the region associated with putting plans together given that despite good concepts, and so on, the financial institutions will tell investors it lacks preparation, proper preparation and sometimes they have administrative deficiencies.

He admitted also that sometimes these projects require environmental assessments, feasibility studies that points to a circular problem in that you hear persons are unable to access, or they complain that they are unable to access the requisite financing for their project.

Sinanan also agrees that while none of the steps outlined comes free and as a result, an investor would need to have the resources to invest, to develop the project, and then from the project, now, hopefully, get that conversion into not just the investable resources, but the actual implementation of the project.

‘Well, I think what you’ve identified is the solution right in there. You have to have facilities in the Caribbean region that allows to help project owners package and layer their projects’ Sinanan said, adding ‘we have many project preparation facilities.

‘We have to ensure that we have the resources and the patient capital in the Caribbean region that can work with a project owner to really make sure that their project is investable. So, like you said, grant funding to ensure that they can do pre-feasibility studies.

‘I mean, Caribbean Export, we offer that. We have our grant funding that we would offer. You have to have the technical assistance in place that project owners can access at a very low cost that will allow them to really make sure that their project is packageable. So, we have to have this, I would like to call it an ecosystem in place that supports project packaging and project development. And we have it’

Asked whether it is working Sinanan replied ‘it’s in bits and pieces.We don’t have a cohesive strategy across the Caribbean region. We have it in certain financial, certain multilateral agencies, they offer it.

‘Certain regional agencies, they offer it. But what I don’t see is bringing it all together. And we kind of view Caribbean Investment Forum and Caribbean Export as that bridge to bring all of these project packaging resources together so project owners can access it,’ Sinanan said, noting that the problem is those project owners don’t know these resources exist.

‘They are not aware of it because we have to do a better job of getting it out there,’ he said, aware of the need to transcend to the next level despite the success of past CIFs.

Sinanan said what is really required is a cultural and knowledge shift amongst the region’s entrepreneurs.

‘Scale is required, unfortunately. And we all know, like, if you have a project size for 10 million and you have a project size for 100 million, it’s the same due diligence that an investor has to do. It’s the same amount of work that an investor has to do. So, any investor will obviously go for a larger ticket size.’

The Caribbean Export official said that many investors in the early stages of CIF would note that they are interested, but the ticket size is too small and it’s just not worth their while.

‘So we have to build that scale. And unfortunately, we’re many small islands, developing states, small populations, small projects. We have to encourage projects that can scale, that we can work together.

‘So cross-island projects, regional projects that we can put together, package, lay and present to willing investors that are wanting to go. And then we get into the whole thing where you have to make sure that we have to have a policy environment that supports that kind of investment.’

Sinanan said that ‘another road’ the region would need to travel upon reiterating that there is need to encourage cross-border, cross-fertilisation and projects that are of scale that we can present to investors, because they are looking for large ticket sizes.

‘And we need to ensure that we have that scale if we are to attract major capital to the region. And just to add another point, we have to diversify our funding resources in the region, unfortunately, because we only have commercial banks, really,’ Sinanan said.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness is urging landowners with unused property in developed areas to consider selling it to the Government to help expand housing opportunities for vulnerable Jamaicans.

Holness made the appeal on Wednesday during the handover of two-family housing units under the New Social Housing Programme (NSHP) in Greendale, Bull Bay, in St. Andrew East Rural.

He said access to suitable land remained a challenge for many Jamaicans who had not inherited property and were seeking to secure homes, contributing to an increase in illegal land occupation, commonly known as squatting.

‘In my opinion, this is a good way to achieve social justice and equity,’ Holness said. ‘There are many Jamaicans who had no endowment, meaning they have no asset that they would have gotten as an inheritance from their parents or their family, and they are seeking to have endowment.’

He called on landowners who had migrated or no longer intended to use their property to approach the Government about selling land suitable for housing.

Holness said acquiring more usable land for the NSHP could help ease some of the social tensions associated with land settlement.

He reiterated that beneficiaries must own land or have permission to use it under a long-term lease or other ownership arrangement before the Government builds a house for them.

Speaker of the House and Member of Parliament for St Andrew East Rural Juliet Holness also highlighted the difficulty of finding suitable sites for the programme in her constituency, citing the location of applicants, hilly terrain and a lack of land ownership among some prospective beneficiaries.

She appealed to Jamaicans at home and abroad who own suitable land to contact the Government.

‘I do not want even one opportunity for a house for a resident to go, because we can’t find suitable land,’ she said, urging landowners willing to sell to get in touch with her office or community representatives.

‘We don’t want a single house to go to waste,’ she added.

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) chairman, Prime Minister Phillip J.Pierre says ‘Haiti is bleeding’ and is ‘a sad situation’ as he defended the decision of the United Nations Security Council to send foreign troops into the French-speaking CARICOM country.

Pierre, who is also the prime minister of St. Lucia, told the weekly cabinet newsconference that he had raised the issue in Haiti during last week’s United States-Caribbean Dialogue with with United States Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau.

‘Haiti is a very sad situation. I raised it with the US, even if it was not part of the agenda. I raised Haiti to the US.Haiti is a very sad situation. Now they may have to postpone the elections, which is supposed to help for December. But Haiti is bleeding.Haiti is a sad situation,’ Pierre told reporters.

The United Nations Security Council was told on Monday that armed groups in Haiti are adapting to intensified security operations, stepping up reprisals against civilians and extending their reach into rural areas.

Monday’s briefing came two weeks after presidential and legislative elections planned for December 13 were postponed indefinitely, with the UN’s top official in the country cautioning against setting new dates without a realistic assessment of whether a vote can be held.

Haiti has not held national elections since 2016 and Carlos Ruiz Massieu, the UN’s top official in Haiti, said nevertheless, preparations are ongoing.

He said more than 35 political parties and groups, and 3,500 candidates have registered and as of October 5, however, only 759,257 potential voters were on the lists, out of an estimated electorate of 6.5 million people.

Insecurity and mass displacement are further complicating the organization of the election.

‘Setting new dates for elections without a realistic assessment of their feasibility will only erode public confidence and the credibility of Haitian institutions,’ he warned

The Security Council was also informed that the authorised Gang Suppression Force (GSF) is not yet fully deployed and that the security forces are intensifying their operations, but that the gangs are not giving up.

Pierre told reporters that Haiti is part of the Caribbean history as well as ‘part of our hemisphere.

‘Haiti is bleeding. So it’s not a matter of supporting foreign intervention,’ he said with reference to the GSF the UN-authorized multinational security and military mission deployed to combat armed gangs, protect critical infrastructure, and support local forces.

It replaced the earlier Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) and its mandate has been extended through March 31, 2027. So far, despite an initial call for a deployment of 5,500 troops, between 1,500 to 2,000 troops have been actively deployed from contributing countries Chad, Jamaica, Guatemala, and El Salvador.

The Guatemalan military has since announced the deployment of a new military contingent to Haiti. In a statement posted on its official Facebook page, the Guatemalan military stated that it held a departure ceremony for a contingent from the 2nd Military Police Unit and that the group will join the GSF.

According to a statement , the ceremony took place on the tarmac of a Guatemalan airbase and was presided over by Major General Henry David Saenz Ramos, Guatemala’s Minister of National Defense.

Pierre has dismissed suggestions that the GSF is an invasion body. Saying ‘it’s a matter of trying to see if you can alleviate the hardship in Haiti.

‘CARICOM has decided that a Gang Suppression Force is one of the ways n which you can help to halt the bleeding that’s taking place in Haiti.

‘So CARICOM has agreed and then there’s not been any other initiative that’s happened to cause us to believe that the gang suppression force is not right, is not a right move. But the concern about Haiti is overwhelming and the situation in Haiti seems to be getting from bad to worse,’ Pierre added.

Meanwhile, the Haitian authorities have announced a state of emergency (SoE) until December 18 in the departments of West, Artibonite and Center in order to combat insecurity.

The government is calling on the entire population to be calm, saying it is fully aware of the need to support citizens in the face of measures taken which could seem contrary to the public interest.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says Trinidad and Tobago is not in a recession and is in fact ‘in progression’.

‘I want to say very clearly, very confidently, unequivocally, to citizens who contribute to our nation, Trinidad and obago is not standing still. Trinidad and Tobago is in progression,’ Persad-Bissessar said as she contributed to the debate on the TT$63.3 billion (One TT dollar=US$0.16 cents) budget presented by Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo, a week ago.

Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles last Friday described the budget as ‘deceitful, deceptive, and destructive’ and that the oil rich-twin island republic has entered into a recession.

‘Mr. Speaker, what makes this worse is that this is a recession caused by the UNC (United National Congress) Government and its failed policies, which are anti-people, anti-business, and anti-investment.’

Beckles said that the government had increased electricity rates, introduce a series of new taxes all designed to make doing business in Trinidad and Tobago much more difficult.

‘The Minister of Finance, either intentionally, or out of dereliction of duty, failed to present the true state of the economy. Instead, he attempted to deceive,’ she said, quoting from an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report in 2024, ‘the last Article 4 Consultation’ under the previous People’s National Movement (PNM) government.

She said that the report had stated ‘For the first time in a decade, Trinidad and Tobago is undergoing a gradual and sustained economic recovery,’ with Beckles saying that it exposes ‘ the deceit that the Minister of Finance continues to parrot about who crashed the economy.

But Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar told legislators that ‘others would have you believe we are in recession, make it very clear we are in progression,

‘I’ll tell you why. This is not Kamlal saying it or one of my MPs saying it, listen to people. The IMF, one of the world’s most respected independent financial institutions, has projected positive economic growth for Trinidad and Tobago,’ Persad-Bissessar said, insisting that the numbers are solid.

‘ It is in the IMF’s May 2026, in the IMF’s May 2026, Article 4 report, the IMF projected growth of 0.8 per cent in 2026, that’s this year, the last fiscal gone by, accelerating to three per cent in 2027, and averaging approximately 3.5 per cent in 2028 and 2029.

‘Where is recession in that? That is progression, that is progression. These are the projections of an internationally recognised institution. These are the figures manufactured for political convenience. This latest report…,’ she said.

Persad-Bissessar during her presentation accused the former People’s National Movement (PNM) administration of leaving behind substantial debt obligations when they left office last year

She said adjusted government debt rose from TT$75.38 billion in fiscal 2015 to TT$140.58 billion in fiscal 2024, an increase of 86.5 per cent and that her administration has already borrowed more than TT$21 billion to refinance inherited debt, with another TT$70 billion falling due over the next five years.

She also rejected allegations that her government was engaging in a fire sale of State assets, saying ”I heard one of them say it’s a fire sale. Nothing is further from the truth’.

She defended plans by her government to divest loss-making state enterprises, questioning why taxpayers should continue subsidising companies that consistently recorded financial losses.

She identified the Magdalena Grand Beach and Golf Resort, in Tobago, the Trinidad Hilton and the Caribbean Dockyard and Engineering Company (Caridoc) among the entities earmarked for divestment, noting that the Magdalena Grand had accumulated losses of TT$240 million and that government had been asked to provide an estimated TT$400 million for upgrades at the Hilton.

‘No government should be running hotels,’ she told legislators.

But Beckles has maintained the opposition position, saying that government during the debate have not been able to properly discuss the positive developments since coming to office in April last year.

She said their presentations were devoid of details on development for the country ‘because because all they did today, they used today to drop bomb after bomb after bomb. hat is what they came to do.

‘You would think that the Minister of Youth and all the other ministers that spoke today would come to us and say, Listen, I got an allocation in the last fiscal year for X, this is how I spent it,’ Beckles told a news conference after the opposition staged a walkout of the Parliament on Monday following the allegations made by the government ministers against PNM members.

The debate is continuing.

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary General, Dr. Carla Barnett, says much of the multi-billion US dollar export growth in the region has been driven by energy and commodities and that the regional integration grouping continues to import a large share of its food, manufactured goods and capital equipment.

‘The challenge, therefore, is not only to increase exports, but to broaden the productive base from which those exports come,’ Barnett told the five-day International Trade and Investment Conference organised by the World Trade Center Georgetown (WTCG).

The event has brought together business leaders and investors to establish commercial partnerships and explore investment opportunities across multiple sectors.

Barnett said that the conference is taking place as the international environment is becoming considerably uncertain and the multilateral trading system, underpinned by multilateral rules, agreed in the context of the World Trade Organization (WTO) coming under significant pressure.

She said changing tariffs and other trade measures are affecting market conditions with supply chains being reconfigured.

‘Conflict in the Middle East and disruption around major shipping routes are sharply increasing shipping and energy costs resulting in rising prices across the globe. We are certainly experiencing sharply rising prices across the Caribbean.’

Barnett said that while global trade is still growing and is important, it is doing so in a more fragmented and for small, open economies such as ours, that matters immensely.

She said that CARICOM trade performance over the past five years has seen merchandise exports increasing from about US$19 billion to more than US$39 billion. Imports also rose, to around US$42.9 billion in 2025, but export growth was stronger.

As a result, the merchandise trade deficit narrowed substantially from levels exceeding US$10 billion in earlier years to approximately US$2.6 billion and US$3.3 billion in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

But Barnett said that while the improvement is notable, composition also matters and that much of the export growth has been driven by energy and commodities.

She said services present a similar picture. CARICOM is a net exporter of services, with a services trade surplus of more than US$7.2 billion in 2024. Services exports recovered well from the pandemic period, but travel accounted for about 82 per cent of total services exports in 2024.

She said while that is a major strength, it also points to the importance of ensuring greater diversification.

Barnett said investment flows remain relatively modest. CARICOM and the wider Caribbean attracted approximately four billion US dollars in inward foreign direct investment in both 2024 and 2025, accounting for only a small share of total inflows to Latin America and the Caribbean.

‘Those flows also remain concentrated in tourism, real estate, energy and selected services, while greenfield investment remains comparatively weak,’ she said, adding that ‘these trends reinforce the long-standing reality that our economies are small, very open and highly concentrated. Amid heightened external uncertainty, regional integration and collective action become even more important.’

Barnett said that the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas provides the principal legal framework for that effort, with overall policy direction from the CARICCOM leaders at their summits.

‘For participating member states, the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) is the central instrument through which we seek to widen the economic space available to people and businesses through the movement of goods and services, skills and capital, and through rights of establishment.’

But she said opening markets, however, is only a part of the task.

‘The effective functioning of a regional economy also depends on what we produce; how production is organised across borders; how investment is mobilised; how payments and capital move; how regulatory and tax systems interact; and whether the infrastructure supporting commerce allows firms to compete effectively from anywhere within and across in the region.’

Barnett said that CARICOM has identified four mechanisms to support these processes.

The first is the CARICOM Industrial Policy and Strategy, which seeks to enable strengthening of regional productive capacity, through greater cross-border use of natural resources, skills, capital, technology and management capabilities; and through stronger linkages among firms and sectors.

She said developing regional enterprises capable of achieving scale; and diversifying production for regional and international markets, are also critical.

‘The Strategy recognises that competitiveness depends on research, development and innovation, and on production systems that are more sustainable, resilient and responsive to technological change.’

The second mechanism is CARICOM’s Investment Policy, which is aimed at improving transparency, predictability and coherence in the investment environment, while recognising the different circumstances and priorities of individual member states.

The Belizean-born economist said that the third mechanism is work to deepen regional capital markets and make it easier for capital to reach productive opportunities across the region.

The CARICOM Payments and Settlement System, which is under consideration by the regional central banks, is intended to improve the mechanisms through which cross-border payments can be made and settled. Inefficient payment arrangements add cost, delay and complexity to regional commerce, particularly for smaller firms.

She said the fourth mechanism is tax coordination and that the Intra-CARICOM Double Taxation Agreement seeks to provide greater certainty for income, investment and business activities across national borders, while safeguarding the legitimate tax interests of member states.

‘While these may appear to be highly technical areas of work, they have very practical consequences. The effectiveness of regional economic integration ultimately depends on whether businesses can use the arrangements that have been created: whether they can make payments efficiently, access finance, invest across jurisdictions, and operate with sufficient regulatory and tax certainty.

‘CARICOM is also seeking to strengthen existing and new extra-regional trade relationships. This includes ongoing work to advance discussions and negotiations with close neighbours, such as Colombia, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.’

Barnett said that the United States remains one of the CARICOM’s most important trading partners and while ‘we welcomed the restoration of the Caribbean Basin Initiative preferences after the temporary Section 122 tariffs expired in July, we recognise that other trade measures continue to affect particular products and member states’.

She said that these developments underline the need for continued engagement and close attention to changing market conditions.

Barnett said CARICOM is also widening its engagements, with Brazil, India and African Union countries identified among priority markets for greater engagement.

She said that this conference’s dedicated session on Doing Business with Brazil is therefore timely, and provides an opportunity to examine how trade, investment and wider economic relations with Brazil and the wider Latin American region can be expanded.

‘These external relationships are important, but our ability to benefit from them largely depends on the strength of our own economies. Market access has greatest value when firms have the productive capacity, finance, technology, logistics and scale needed to use it. Regional integration and external economic engagement must therefore reinforce each other.’

Barnett said that there are clear opportunities for investment across CARICOM, noting that agriculture and agribusiness remain important as the region works to expand food production and strengthen processing, storage, distribution and regional value chains.

She said renewable energy can improve energy security and reduce production costs. Tourism remains a major internationally traded service, with scope to deepen its linkages to agriculture, culture, transportation, technology and other sectors. Transportation, logistics and communications are themselves important areas for investment and essential enablers of regional commerce.

She told delegates that the quality of investment matters as much as the volume.

‘We need investments that expand productive capacity, support innovation and diversification, strengthen regional value chains, and create employment,’ she said, encouraging the businesses and investors here today to consider the CARICOM through both a national and a regional lens.

‘Each member state offers its own opportunities and comparative advantages. At the same time, as we work to strengthen the economic connections among our markets, we create a wider platform for production, trade and investment.’

Barnett said that while government and regional Institutions can put frameworks in place, it is the private sector which makes them work.

‘As businesses use the arrangements being developed, we learn where practical constraints remain that can and must be addressed, so that investments flow into the productive opportunities that will grow our economies and thereby improve the quality of life for citizens across the Caribbean Community,’ she added.

Former Jamaica attorney general, A J Nicholson, has told judges of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) that ‘public bickering’ must be shunned.

Nicholson said it was never the intention that ‘the CCJ was being created to provide its judges with a platform for public bickering.

‘There was never even the slightest thought that personality issues that would normally arise between or among the judges, hardly combatants, would not be approached and resolved in mature, empathetic fashion by experienced judicial minds whose remit encompasses the resolution of taxing contentious questions within the wide-ranging scope of the original and appellate jurisdictions of the court.’

The former foreign affairs minister served as deputy to the former Chief Justice of Barbados, Sir David Simmonds and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley when they served as the first and second chairperons of the Preparatory Committee for the Establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice,

‘As Jamaica’s then attorney-general, I was privileged to serve as the deputy to both, and was tasked with updating the meetings of heads of government over time on the progress of the Committee’s ongoing deliberations conducted under the practiced eye of Dr Kenny Anthony, the head of government then in charge of the justice portfolio.

‘Jamaica’s regrettable neglect to fulfil its treaty obligation to accede fully to the CCJ has perhaps left me appropriately placed to share with the judges of the court and the public some of the thinking and understandings by which those deliberations and reports to the meetings of heads of government were guided.’

Nicholson said that he was ‘also persuaded to take this route of communicating because it is the route that was adopted in recent leaks of the judges’ private correspondence in Port-of-spain.

‘To cut to the chase, it was never at any time a part of any thinking in those deliberations or reports to the meetings of heads of government that the CCJ was being created to provide its judges with a platform for public bickering.’

In August, CCJ president, Justice Winston Anderson, responded to reports of allegations of internal tensions and judicial panel manipulation at the Trinidad-based regional court, strongly rejecting claims that panels were altered to influence case outcomes.

In a detailed statement, Justice Anderson condemned the unauthorised leaking of confidential court communications, saying it undermines judicial independence and public confidence.

He explained that a decision to remove a judge from a panel was based solely on concerns over judicial attire and not the judge’s views on a case.

The CCJ president also denied attempts to influence judgments, defended robust disagreements among judges as part of normal appellate court deliberations, but acknowledged that he could have handled some matters differently.

The allegations stem from emails published by Trinidad and Tobago’s Sunday Express, which said it had obtained the leaked internal correspondence.

The Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission (RJLSC) has since acknowledged allegations concerning Justice Anderson announcing that a ‘transparent and indepen dent review’ will be undertaken into the matter.

But earlier this month, the Sunday Express newspaper published yet another story claiming that a sitting judge now accusing Justice Anderson of abusing his authority.

The newspaper reported that Justice Peter Jamadar has accused the CCJ president of administrative overreach after Jamadar’s administrative officer, identified as Ms. Simmons-Peters, was questioned about her outside activities under the cover of an internal investigation into a media leak.

Jamadar alleges she was warned she could face up to two years in prison under Trinidad and Tobago’s Computer Misuse Act, and that her files and communications were scrutinized as part of the probe.

In a six-page email reportedly sent to Anderson and fellow judges on September 4, Justice Jamadar dscribed the episode as ‘abuse of power,’ arguing that Justice Anderson should not have had oversight of an inquiry that reached into his staff’s conduct.

The Sunday Express reported that another CCJ judge, Justice Rajnauth-Lee, received a similarly worded email as part of the same investigation, which was led by the court’s IT manager, identified as Mr. Burgess.

In his ‘Open Letter,’ Nicholson said that there was ‘deep concern that the working environment for the judges should be accommodating, with protective guardrails provided to insulate them from political and other powerful kinds of pressure.

‘The creative, some say revolutionary, mechanisms that were devised, namely, the provisions for the appointment of the judges and for financing of the court, while serving to ease irritating burdens that normally devolve on judicial operations, have also reaped plaudits internationally.’

Nicholson said that ‘unyielding confidence that the kind of legal and judicial skills abounded within the region to provide the core complement of judges whose judgments would receive global acclaim has gratifyingly proved to have been well placed’.

He said that during the formative years, the spurious far-flung assertion of a hanging court being created had to be faced and successfully debunked.

‘Now, the CCJ, having found a respected place alongside other apex courts globally within two decades of its evolutionary existence – a mountain of an achievement – is met with the mischief-making challenge of the leaking of private internal correspondence of the judges.

Nicholson said that the vision was that ‘our Caribbean history and circumstance mandated that the regional final court would serve both as a temple of justice and as an example and leadership guide in all spheres of emancipatory efforts and development within our hemispheric space.

‘There was certainly no expectation of petulant mischief-making leaks and public bickering!

Nothing of the sort falls within the collegial functions of any judge and, respectfully, must be shunned!,’ Nicholson wrote.

The following is the full text of the ‘Open Letter’ written by the former Jamaica attorney general A J Nicholson.

‘This is an open letter:

To the Judges of the Caribbean Court of Justice.

PUBLIC BICKERING MUST BE SHUNNED!

The first Chairman of the Preparatory Committee for the Establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice was then attorney-general David Simmonds, later Chief Justice of Barbados.

He was succeeded by then attorney-general Mia Mottley, later Prime Minister of Barbados.

As Jamaica’s then attorney-general, I was privileged to serve as the deputy to both, and was tasked with updating the meetings of heads of government over time on the progress of the Committee’s ongoing deliberations conducted under the practiced eye of Dr Kenny Anthony, the head of government then in charge of the justice portfolio.

Jamaica’s regrettable neglect to fulfil its treaty obligation to accede fully to the CCJ has perhaps left me appropriately placed to share with the judges of the court and the public some of the thinking and understandings by which those deliberations and reports to the meetings of heads of government were guided.

I was also persuaded to take this route of communicating because it is the route that was adopted in recent leaks of the judges’ private correspondence in Port-of-spain.

To cut to the chase, it was never at any time a part of any thinking in those deliberations or reports to the meetings of heads of government that the CCJ was being created to provide its judges with a platform for public bickering.

There was deep concern that the working environment for the judges should be accommodating, with protective guardrails provided to insulate them from political and other powerful kinds of pressure.

The creative, some say revolutionary, mechanisms that were devised, namely, the provisions for the appointment of the judges and for financing of the court, while serving to ease irritating burdens that normally devolve on judicial operations, have also reaped plaudits internationally.

Unyielding confidence that the kind of legal and judicial skills abounded within the region to provide the core complement of judges whose judgments would receive global acclaim has gratifyingly proved to have been well placed.

During the formative years, the spurious far-flung assertion of a hanging court being created had to be faced and successfully debunked.

Now, the CCJ, having found a respected place alongside other apex courts globally within two decades of its evolutionary existence – a mountain of an achievement – is met with the mischief-making challenge of the leaking of private internal correspondence of the judges.

There was never even the slightest thought that personality issues that would normally arise between or among the judges, hardly combatants, would not be approached and resolved in mature, empathetic fashion by experienced judicial minds whose remit encompasses the resolution of taxing contentious questions within the wide-ranging scope of the original and appellate jurisdictions of the court.

The vision was that our Caribbean history and circumstance mandated that the regional final court would serve both as a temple of justice and as an example and leadership guide in all spheres of emancipatory efforts and development within our hemispheric space.

There was certainly no expectation of petulant mischief-making leaks and public bickering!

Nothing of the sort falls within the collegial functions of any judge and, respectfully, must be shunned!

The United Nations Security Council was told on Monday that armed groups in Haiti are adapting to intensified security operations, stepping up reprisals against civilians and extending their reach into rural areas.

Monday’s briefing came two weeks after presidential and legislative elections planned for December 13 were postponed indefinitely, with the UN’s top official in the country cautioning against setting new dates without a realistic assessment of whether a vote can be held.

Haiti has not held national elections since 2016 and Carlos Ruiz Massieu, the UN’s top official in Haiti, said nevertheless, preparations are ongoing.

He said more than 35 political parties and groups, and 3,500 candidates have registered and as of October 5, however, only 759,257 potential voters were on the lists, out of an estimated electorate of 6.5 million people.

Insecurity and mass displacement are further complicating the organization of the election.

‘Setting new dates for elections without a realistic assessment of their feasibility will only erode public confidence and the credibility of Haitian institutions,’ he warned.

‘I strongly condemn these acts and urge Haitian authorities to take all necessary measures to protect local populations, including by strengthening the capacity of national security institutions to respond effectively to evolving threats.

He said he also welcomes the decision of the government of Haiti ‘to substantially increase funding to national security institutions and strengthen the capacities of the Haitian National Police and the Armed Forces of Haiti.

‘These efforts, with the support of international partners, are essential to enabling Haitian institutions to assume greater responsibility for restoring stability and extending State authority,’ he added.

The UN Security Council was told that 1,123 Haitians were killed and 440 injured in gang-related violence between July and early October and sexual violence remains widespread, with 689 women and girls reportedly raped by gang members in July and August.

The Security Council was also informed that the authorised Gang Suppression Force (GSF) is not yet fully deployed and that the security forces are intensifying their operations, but that the gangs are not giving up.

They are adapting their tactics, increasing reprisals against civilians and spreading violence to rural areas, according to the Secretary-General’s latest report.

‘What is particularly worrying is the gangs’ ability to adapt their tactics as security operations intensify,’ said Massieu.

‘Experience has shown that security operations alone cannot deliver lasting stabilization. Sustainable progress requires a comprehensive Haitian-led approach that combines territorial recovery with a sustained State presence, and coordinated efforts in disarmament, dismantlement and reintegration, with particular attention to children recruited by gangs.’

He said the Haitian people continue to demonstrate remarkable resilience in the face of extraordinary hardship and that they now deserve to see tangible improvements in their daily lives.

‘I therefore call on Member States to sustain their support for Haiti and their solidarity with the country. This includes contributing to the Trust Fund for the Gang Suppression Force and the Haiti Peace Dividend Fund, advancing a complementary approach that combines security interventions with efforts in justice, disarmament, dismantlement and reintegration.’

Armed groups are increasingly resorting to hostage-taking, intimidation and reprisals against civilians to maintain their territory and challenge state authority.

The attack carried out on August 23 and 24 in Kenscoff, a mountainous town southeast of the capital, Port-au-Prince, illustrates this strategy the UN said, noting that at least 47 people were killed, 22 wounded, and 52 taken hostage, 13 of whom were later freed thanks to local initiatives supported by the UN.

In the West and Artibonite departments, 241 people were killed for allegedly resisting gangs.

Other attacks – notably in Saint-Michel-de-l’Atalaye, Marigot, and LéogSne – indicate a spread of violence into rural areas. Armed groups are also targeting farmland, homes and public infrastructure.

Security force operations also contribute to the rising death toll. They account for 52 per cent of Haitians killed or wounded since the beginning of July, or 808 people, including 148 not associated with gangs.

Faced with this violence, the UN Security back GSF is continuing its deployment and as of

October 12, it had 1,563 uniformed members, far fewer than the 5,550 authorised by the Security Council.

It has notably established a base in the Artibonite region, beyond the capital.

But, armed groups retain the capacity to retaliate.

On Sunday, an armoured vehicle transporting Salvadoran soldiers from the force was attacked in Croix-des-Bouquets, in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. Media reports said that four soldiers were still missing on Monday.

Massieu told the UN Security Council that retaking territory will not be enough.

‘Experience has shown that security operations alone cannot bring about lasting stabilisation,’ he warned, calling for the permanent restoration of the State’s presence and the development of disarmament and reintegration programmes, particularly for children recruited by gangs.

‘This persistent insecurity also jeopardises the return to democracy, he said.

Adding to this political uncertainty is a humanitarian crisis.

Nearly 1.5 million people have fled their homes, including more than 740,000 children.

The economy is expected to contract for the seventh consecutive year, while the UN’s 2026 humanitarian plan is only about half funded.

The country thus remains faced with a dual emergency: restoring security essential for holding elections, without which a return to democratic institutions remains out of reach.

Meanwhile, Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said on Monday that according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), over 1,600 schools are closed and 95 are being used to shelter displaced families.

He said keeping children in school is critical to protecting them from recruitment by armed groups and that UNICEF reports that the number of children in Haiti recruited and used by armed groups surged by an estimated 200 per cent last year alone.

‘In September, we and our humanitarian partners helped nearly 3,000 children access alternative learning opportunities, including catch-up classes and non-formal education.

We also distributed school backpacks and notebooks and pens to more than 4,600 children, provided psychosocial support to 2,000, and helped over 175 displaced children return to the national education system,’ Dujarric told the daily UN press birefing.

‘However, as you can imagine, the funding is not keeping pace with the growing needs. The education response under the Humanitarian Response Plan has only gotten 30 per cent of the US$61.7 million that we need, and we need more money,’ he added.