Barbados immigration policies get high profile at Caricom meeting

Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson is confident that considerable progress will be made towards resolving the thorny issue of migration at this week’s Caricom leaders summit in Guyana.

Stating that the controversial issue had generated ‘more heat than light’, Mr Thompson noted that it will be raised at the heads of government meeting which begins on Thursday.

He said it's also likely to be discussed in bilateral talks between with Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo.

There have been complaints, mainly from Guyanese immigrants in Barbados, of mistreatment by Bajan immigration officials.

Prime Minister Thompson, while expressing confidence in the officers' professionalism, announced that an independent review panel will be established to investigate complaints of mistreatment.

Election petition

The Antiguan electorate will have to wait until September to know if some of them may have to go back to polls.

That’s when four of six election petition cases – filed by the opposition Antigua Labour Party – will go to trial in the High Court.

In a preliminary ruling a judge threw out two of the six petitions brought by losing candidates of the ALP, on the grounds that they were filed late.

Th other four cases will be heard.

The opposition claims that the ruling United Progressive Party candidates had used bribery and undue influence to woo the electorate.

The petitions came after a late start – up to six hours in some polling stations – in at least four constituencies during the March 12 general elections.

Slavery apology

Two top British businesses today offered apologies for their involvement in the slave trade.

The investment bank Rothchild and the law firm Freshfileds both issued statements on their websites in which they said they had been unaware of the connection.

They said they "greatly regretted" links between their 19th century founders and the slave trade.

Founders Nathan Mayer Rothschild and James William Freshfield both supported the abolition of slavery.

But according to research carried out by the UK's Financial Times (FT)newspaper, both were engaged in business linked to the slave trade.

The paper says the links could prove contentious for both firms' operations in the United States, where numerous banks and other bodies have come under pressure to make amends for profiting from slavery.

Haiti debt relief

Haiti has had two-thirds of its debt cancelled by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Inter-American Development Bank.

A 1.2 billion dollar chunk of the country's 1.9 billion dollar debt has been forgiven by the three international organisations.

The World Bank and the IMF said they granted the debt relief because Haiti has complied with their conditions for the country to reform its economy and implement poverty reduction measures.

The charity Christian Aid had been among those lobbying for debt relief for the impoverished Caribbean nation.

Christian Aid representative in Port au Prince, Prospery Raymond's told BBC Caribbean that by any standard, the level of relief is significant.

UK airlines against APD

A top airline official in the UK has warned that a proposed increase in Air Passenger Duty – APD - airport departure tax being pushed by the British government will hurt the Caribbean.

Virgin Atlantic chief executive Steve Ridgway said there were concerns about the levels of the tax on flights to the Caribbean.

He expressed concerns that the APD, doubled in 2008, was again going to be increased.

Making specific reference to the Caribbean, Mr Ridgway said some of the planned increases are quite disproportionate.

Caribbean governments and tourism officials have been lobbying against the increases due to take effect in November.

Reverse remittances

According to new research some immigrants are asking their relatives to wire them back, money they'd sent home as remittances.

It’s being called ‘reverse remittances’.

World Bank economist Dilip Ratha says he's noticed a pattern in the Dominican Republic, Mexico and India over the past year where immigrants from those countries tapped into their home country savings accounts for money they had previously sent home.

He said that as a result the amount of foreign currency deposits declined 7 percent in the Dominican Republic, 12 percent in India, and 6 percent in Mexico during the 12-month period.

But Mr Ratha also said that people are still sending home far more than what they are taking out.

Africa calling

Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi has called on Caribbean nations to join the African Union.

Speaking at a summit of the continental grouping Wednesday, Mr Gaddafi, the current head of the union, said the countries he was referring to are considered to be African countries but they are located in the Caribbean.

He said seven Caribbean states including Jamaica and Haiti, have sent delegations as observers to the summit.

The Libyan leader said he hoped they would become members of the African Union, a move he said would represent a solid tie between these two worlds.