• Commonwealth Secretary-General says world must continue to fight invisible infection of corruption

     
    Countries’ response to Covid-19, their long-term development and the meeting of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are all threatened by the “invisible infection” of corruption, the Commonwealth Secretary-General has warned.
     
    Speaking to the annual conference of the Commonwealth Caribbean Association of Integrity Commissions and Anti-Corruption Bodies (CCAICACB), Patricia Scotland laid bare the devastating impact criminal acts such as fraud bribery and theft have in both financial terms and in their human cost.
     
    In her speech to the conference she highlighted that:

    It is estimated that every year $1 trillion is paid in bribes globally, while an estimated $2.6 trillion is stolen annually through corruption, a sum equivalent to more than five per cent of the global Gross Domestic Product.
    Illicit financial flows cost developing countries $1.26 trillion per year, enough money to lift 1.4 billion people out of poverty and keep them there for at least six years. While the United Nations Development Programme estimates, that in developing countries, funds lost to corruption are 10 times the amount dispersed in official development assistance.
    Transparency International states corruption in the health sector alone costs US$500 billion every year, more than the amount needed for worldwide universal health coverage.

    The Secretary-General said corruption would not only undermine efforts to defeat the Covid-19 pandemic but also deprive vulnerable communities of vital funding for social and economic development.
     
    Speaking to the conference, she said the “corrosive cancer” of corruption is one of the major impediments to achieving the SDGs.
     
    She also called for “swift and decisive action” to improve transparency and accountability, and to build confidence that institutions and systems are corruption-free, adding: “Our Caribbean region is now confronted with the triple impacts of the global pandemic, climate crisis and a potential economic tsunami because of the lockdown measures necessary to fight coronavirus.
     
    “As we mobilise to adapt to climate change and work to withstand its impacts and those of the natural disasters which bring devastation to our islands, there is this invisible infection of corruption which the world must also continue to fight.”
     

     
    The Secretary-General outlined how the Commonwealth Secretariat’s work is crucial in the battle to curb corruption.
     
    The approach attacks criminal financial activities on three fronts - research, capacity-building and networking. This is delivered through regional anti-corruption agency networks and training centres, backed up by closer co-operation and learning. The CCAICACB was created by the Commonwealth Secretariat in 2015. 
     
    The Secretariat’s work has seen significant success, with recent data showing Commonwealth Caribbean countries are perceived as less corrupt than their non-Commonwealth neighbours.
     
    Commonwealth Anti-Corruption Benchmarks have also been developed as the latest tool designed to help governments and public sector bodies with measuring anti-corruption laws, procedures and actions against international good practice.
     
    Dale Marshall, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs in Barbados, explained the challenge his country faces in combatting the dual threat of corruption and the pandemic.
     
    He said: “Barbados has had to divert all of its available resources to keeping our economy afloat.
     
    “At a time when we are almost in a position to establish an integrity in public life commission, when we are just about to establish a special agency to fight corruption, the resources that we would have made available are now having to be diverted to ensuring that we have ventilators, that those people who have been thrown on the unemployment line have food.
     
    “We are faced with a choice. Do we focus on the issues of keeping Barbados afloat or do we take some of those resources and dedicate them towards the fight against corruption? It is an impossible choice.”
     
    The CCAICACB conference is being held in a virtual format for the first time due to the Covid-19 situation.
     
    Two further session of the meeting will be held over the next two weeks, with members presenting and reviewing their recent anti-corruption initiatives as well as sharing ideas and best practice for use across the region.

  • Commonwealth Secretary-General to attend Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Uganda

    The Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC, will attend the Non-Aligned Movement Heads of State Summit from 19 to 20 January 2024 in Kampala, Uganda, as a Special Guest.

  • Commonwealth Secretary-General to call for accelerated action on climate crisis at COP28

    The Secretary-General, The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC, will lead the Commonwealth delegation at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai to call for accelerated action on the climate crisis in light of intensifying threats to small and vulnerable member countries.

  • Commonwealth Secretary-General to visit Samoa and Tonga

    The Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC, will embark on official visits to Samoa and the Kingdom of Tonga from 25 March 2024.

  • Commonwealth to champion climate-vulnerable small states at COP26

    The Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland called for urgent action to ensure improved climate resilience of small states and promised to amplify the concerns of small and other vulnerable states around climate change at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow this November.

  • Commonwealth to Recognise Outstanding Young People in Youth Awards

    Fifty outstanding young social entrepreneurs, environmental champions, innovators and human rights activists from across the Commonwealth have been short listed for next month’s prestigious Commonwealth Youth Awards.Selection of the twenty finalists is currently being made by a panel which is carefully studying the impressive range of projects and initiatives being undertaken by young people aged between 15 and 29 and the strides they are making towards achieving sustainable development goals.The twenty finalists will attend an awards ceremony in London marking the 50th anniversary of the Commonwealth Youth Programme when the winners will be announced.

  • Commonwealth youth leaders want action, not just rhetoric at COP28

    Youth leaders representing the Commonwealth’s 56 countries have urged leaders at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai to move beyond speeches and deliver concrete action to safeguard the planet. 

  • Companies renew commitment to the Zero Hunger Private Sector Pledge

    Three companies supporting the Zero Hunger Private Sector Pledge have together committed an additional US$ 35 million to end hunger.

  • Company projects 5,500 jobs, US$1.5 billion in earnings over the next 10 years

    Jamaica is well on its way to operating the first and only dedicated bamboo market pulp mill in the Western Hemisphere.

    Bamboo Bioproducts Ltd (BBP) is advancing its investment in local bamboo with plans to build on lands in Frome, Westmoreland, and will focus on pulp for paper production. The company projects to spend approximately US$300 million to establish the project with an estimated return on investment of 22 per cent with conservative projections of US$1.5 billion in revenue during the first 10 years.

    In addition, BBP anticipates that 500 jobs will be created directly within the facility and up to 5,000 jobs indirectly. Currently, Asian manufacturers are the primary producers in the US$24-billion global bamboo market which fuels a variety of industries including paper manufacturing, agriculture, health and wellness, construction, textiles, and furniture, among others.

    Jamaica’s proximity to western markets, as well as its deep history in sugar cane production (which has strong similarities to growing bamboo) means that BBP’s Frome facility offers game-changing national economic development opportunities. In emphasising the importance of this project to Jamaica’s economy, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said investments like these, anchored on a sustainable environmental and economic model could lead to a rethink of how we might achieve our development.

    “This is an example of what is needed to help drive growth in our economy. The use of bamboo and its by-products has the capacity to be a catalyst in building a new sustainable industry by utilising the value that Jamaica can provide with arable lands, availability of skilled and semi-skilled labour as well as our ideal geographic location for logistics,” said Holness recently.

    “I applaud and welcome this group for responding, through this initiative, to the Government’s continued call for the take-up of former sugar lands for the planting of alternative and more economically viable crops,” added Holness. The pulp will be sold to multi-national corporations partnering with BBP to fulfil the growing market demand for sustainable ‘non-wood pulp fibre’ of globally recognised brands of consumer tissue and personal hygiene products.

    In order to meet its obligations, the Frome mill will have the capacity to process in excess of 250,000 metric tonnes of bamboo pulp annually. The manufacturing process will feature state-of-the-art machinery from one of the world’s leading technology suppliers. It will produce a sustainable product efficiently, whilst simultaneously meeting world-class environmental standards.

    The project’s execution team includes international pulp and paper experts, as well as lead fund-raiser/equity partner Delta Capital Partners Ltd, headed by Co-founder and Executive Chairman Zachary Harding. According to Harding, Delta Capital Partners and Stocks and

    Securities Ltd are actively progressing with the capital raise.

    “This is, by far, one of the most significant projects to be undertaken in Jamaica in recent decades. Bamboo pulp as an outright export product will generate significant returns in hard currency.

    “It checks all the boxes including several sustainable development goals and the mill will be eco-friendly using a mix of clean and renewable energy sources. Additionally, market demand is considerably higher than what we will be supplying when fully operational, so we have an excellent opportunity for long term expansion. Most importantly, we will create thousands of jobs, both directly and indirectly,” said Harding.

    British High Commissioner to Jamaica Asif Ahmad, who has been an avid supporter of this venture from its earliest inception, stated it is great to see the progress made so far. “This is a clear example of what can be achieved here when committed partners from Britain, Europe and Jamaica put in a combined effort to invest in an export-focused project,” said Ahmad.

    The bamboo will be farmed on a large scale in Westmoreland as well as smaller farms across the island of Jamaica to satisfy the mill’s annual demand for more than one million tonnes of green Vulgaris bamboo. This is expected to help transition of idle sugar cane lands to bamboo cultivation. BBP is working closely with Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ) Holdings Limited to finalise the necessary lands and is also in talks with private landowners to supplement its land demand.

    “This project has the full support of the Government of Jamaica and the provision of land, for the siting of the mill and the cultivation of bamboo, is a priority project for SCJ Holdings Limited, as it will enhance the country’s foreign exchange earnings and provide a lifeline for the thousands of persons who have suffered from the decline of the sugar industry,” said Joseph Shoucair, managing director at SCJ Holdings Limited.

    JAMPRO, who is the lead facilitator for the project has been working closely with the relevant Government agencies to ensure a smooth investment and execution process and president of the agency, Diane Edwards, said the bamboo project embodies all the characteristics of a well-planned, public-private sector project.

    “It will go a long way in helping to move the economy forward, getting us closer to hitting our projected foreign direct investment targets. It has our full support,” she said.

  • Competition in place to find Jamaica Festival Song

    Jamaica is set to begin a competition to find a Festival Song for this year. The announcement was made by Culture Minister Olivia Grange CD during the recent Jamaica Diaspora Conference., with competitors’ entries to be accepted over a one-week period. Minister Grange said that she was using her music industry network in order to get producers, song writers and performers on board, to come up with 10 songs that are “of the highest quality”, as she described. 

  • Compromise leads to no further strikes in Germany

    After eight months of unpredictable strikes at Germany’s airports, and train services, a compromise has been reached Saturday night just around midnight.

    Those 2.5 million people working in the German transportation service can expect a payment of EURO 3,000.00 each for inflation adjustment. In addition, salaries will increase on a step-by-step basis in 2024.

  • Comviva steps up investment in Western Markets for accelerating growth

    Comviva, the global leader in customer experience and data monetization solutions, today announced the appointment of key executives for accelerating growth. The new leaders will specifically aim to support Comviva's strategic vision based on new market expansion and deeper client relationships in an accelerating digital economy.

    Paul Barowsky has assumed the newly created role of Chief Growth Officer with the primary responsibility for driving expansion in North America and European markets.

  • Concerns as China takes full control of Port o Kingston

    It has been confirmed that China Merchants Port Holdings have taken full control of Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL), the entity that manages the Port of Kingston under a 30-yearconcession agreement with the Jamaican government.

    This was made possible by the international French-led shipping and port management company – CMA CGM selling its interest in KFTL to a subsidiary company, Terminal Link, which was up to that point a joint venture of CMA CGM (51%) and China Merchants (49%).

    The effect of the change is that CMA CGM has sold its shares in the 30-year concession agreement for KFTL, meaning that China Merchants now has full control of the entity.

    Kingston Freeport was the company used by the Terminal Link-CMG CGM consortium to operate, Kingston Container Terminal under the 30-year deal signed with The Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ in April 2015 to finance, expand, operate and maintain the Port of Kingston.

    The overall deal involved more than just the Kingston Freeport, as China Merchant Port Holdings announced recently that the company had completed the initial closing of the proposed acquisition with respect to eight target terminals, including Kingston Freeport, worth US$814.78 million.

    On the move, Jamaica’s opposition PNP (People’s National Party) spokesperson on national security, Peter Bunting, said: “The move is a form of economic colonialism by Chinese businesses in Jamaica.

    “The Jamaican people are well aware of the long history of fraternal between our two peoples. However, we believe that the concerns that arise from the existing situation could be problematic if they remain unaddressed”.

    It follows his appearance in a video, called ‘Chinese Take Over?’, where he made several anti-China statements.

    In response, the Chinese Embassy said that it was offended by the “unsubstantiated claim” by Bunting.

    The company said that the eight terminals assets include 50 per cent of Odessa Terminal Holding Ltd (Ukraine), 49 per cent of CMA CGM-PSA Lion Terminal Pta Singapore), 100 per cent of Kingston Freeport Terminal Ltd. (Jamaica), 30 per cent of Rotterdam World Gateway (Netherlands), 24 per cent of Qingdao Qianwan United Advance Container Terminal (China), 47.25 per cent of First Logistics Development Company (Vietnam), 14.5 per cent of Laem Chabang International Terminal Co. Ltd. (Thailand) and 100 per cent of CMA CGM Terminal Iraq SAS.

    Regarding the change of ownership, of KFTL, authorities there reported that “CMA CGM notified the Jamaican government about the intended transfer before action took place”.

    According to the PAJ, the potential transaction was complete and approved, with several similar agreements highlighted as proven successes – with PAJ, KFTL investing over US$250m to dredge the access channel to the harbour, as well as upgrading facilities and equipment.

    The investments is set to allow larger vessels carrying up to 14,000 20-foot container units (TEUs) which now transit the expanded Panama Canal, to enter Kingston Harbour and to be processed efficiently at the container terminal.

    Previously vessels that were processed at the terminal averaged 3,500 TUEs.

  • Conservation diplomacy will protect the Galápagos Islands

    The Galápagos Islands are home to 3,000 marine species, including sea turtles, dolphins and tropical fish.

    This archipelago off the coast of Ecuador is already one of the largest and most biologically diverse marine protected areas in the world, but it faces threats from climate change as well as illegal fishing. Now, thanks to a recent agreement between the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Ecuador’s government and other partners, funds to protect the Galápagos Islands will last for years to come.

  • Controversial interview casting doubt on Jamaican sprint king Bolt resurfaces

    American journalist Graham Bensinger has renewed the debate about the superior abilities of Jamaican athletes including the world’s fastest man alive, Usain Bolt.

    The journalist recently shared on Tik Tok a preview of an interview he did with Victor Conte, founder and president of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO), a California-based sports nutrition centre. In the interview, Conte says he suspects that the athletic achievements of Usain Bolt and others on Jamaica’s Olympic track team can be traced to their use of illegal drugs.

    In the interview, dated 2017 on YouTube, Conte, who pled guilty to charges from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) of developing a banned steroid with the aid of bodybuilding chemist Patrick Arnold in 2005, is asked about the likelihood that Usain Bolt used illegal performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). He answered that he became suspicious of Bolt and the entire Jamaica Olympic team when their speed and race performance improved exponentially over a very short period.

    While he acknowledged Usain’s talent and admitted the sprinter probably could have broken the world record without using drugs, he also stated, “Any time you’re going from 9:79 seconds to 9:58 seconds, that’s a couple of meters here. It’s suspicious.”

    Conte said based his suspicions on analyses of Bolt’s races by former Russian sprint coach Remi Korchemmy, whom he called a “very scientific guy.”

  • Cooling cities with Smart Surface technology

    This cool pavement installation in Phoenix was part of a 2021 pilot program. (Courtesy of City of Phoenix Street Transportation Department)

    Asphalt, concrete and lack of tree coverage raise city temperatures. Roadways, roofs and other surfaces trap the sun’s UV rays and give off heat throughout the day and even into the night.

  • Cooperation only path to protecting humanity from ongoing crises, Commonwealth Secretary-General tells Non-Aligned Movement Summit

    The Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC, addressed leaders from 121 Non-Aligned Movement countries, calling for greater cooperation to protect all humanity from overlapping economic, environmental and security challenges.

  • COP15 inspired Earth Pyramid moves a step closer as Senegal show interest in groundbreaking structure

    An ambitious project to construct a giant pyramid and time capsule, inspired by the COP15 climate summit in 2009, has moved a step closer with significant interest being shown by West African nation Senegal.

    The Earth Pyramid project, aimed at promoting peace and sustainability through the creation of an iconic structure that reflects the lives of the entire human population, could generate up to $14 billion for social and environmental charities.

  • COP27 takes place in a moment of challenge and opportunity

    Soon, more than 190 nations will address climate crisis solutions at the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

    From November 6 through 18, at least 35,000 people are scheduled to attend public and private sector talks to advance efforts to implement climate solutions to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and enhance adaptations to climate impacts.

  • COP27: Leading Voice on Responsible Investment Shares His Views on the Climate Obligations of Enterprises

    At COP27 a UN Expert Group demanded that business should be charged with obligations to address climate change.

    That seems controversial but is a profoundly pro-business proposal. Indeed, if the world does not define the climate obligations of enterprises, and if climate change causes damage, companies’ risk being sued out of existence.