Conference in Cayman Islands to Discuss Regional Approach to Controversial APD

Conference to discuss regional approach to controversial APD
by Ingrid Brown (The Jamaica Observer)

Regional governments and private sector players are to engage in discussions to identify solutions to the controversial United Kingdom Air Passenger Duty (APD) during the first staging of the Northern Caribbean Conference on Economic Co-operation.

Visa requirements within the Caribbean, trade, education and security concerns among other issues are also to be discussed by the regional partners at the conference to be held in the Cayman Islands next month.

The conference, which is being hosted by the National Building Society of Cayman and its parent company the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS), in partnership with the Cayman Islands Government, will also seek to identify opportunities for collaboration in tourism throughout the Northern Caribbean.

Earl Jarrett, general manager of the JNBS, said the conference is a timely intervention to strengthen relationships in Northern Caribbean countries -- The Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico and Jamaica as well as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

According to Jarrett, the conference will seek to identify new channels through which some of the regional issues can be resolved.

"We believe that it is critical for us to speak to our trade and development needs, define and address security issues, re-examine immigration and the movement of people between our countries, expand education opportunities at the tertiary level, and collaborate in the further development of tourism," he said.

Jarrett, who was addressing a press luncheon hosted at the company's head offices in Kingston on Tuesday, insisted the conference will not be just another talk shop as mechanisms are in place for the dialogue to continue beyond the one-day event.

The £75 APD imposed by Britain for people travelling to the Caribbean is said to be having a negative impact on regional tourism

"It is also interesting to note that the largest segment of the region's population resides in the Northern Caribbean and this power of advantage should be leveraged for the benefit of this side of the region and to expand on the possibilities of intra-regional collaboration," Jarrett said.

As it relates to security matters, Jarrett said all the northern Caribbean countries are subject to security related issues arising from the movement of illegal narcotics from the Latin American region.

Jarrett said, too, that many of the investment in infrastructure in the region -- airports and seaports -- could be shared with smaller crafts as a means of moving people around, further expanding on opportunities tourism brings to the region. Cuba, he said, has developed an effective educational and training system which holds tremendous potential for expanding the learning opportunities in the region.

Jarrett said with JNBS having expanded its investment in the territory knows first-hand some of the challenges in doing business in the Northern Caribbean.