vybes_souljah
 |
It's among the most developed in the Caribbean... Barbados and Trinidad are neck-and-neck toward becoming the first developed country in the Caribbean....
Barbados is "aiming for" 2016-2019" and Trinidad & Tobago says they will do it by 2020..... Everyone is just waiting and watching.....
Here was the article.....
-----
Article: The Race Is On - by Tony Best
Date: Sunday, November 30th,2003
Source: www.NationNews.com - Barbados Daily Nation
Link:
http://www.nationnews.com/StoryView.cfm?Record=44961&Section=Life&Current=2003%2D11%2D30%2000%3A00%3A00
On your mark, set, go.
Although those exact words weren’t used by officials
of Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, the two Caribbean
countries have started a race to become the first
developing country in the Caribbean and Latin America
to be designated as a “developed” state.
And don’t be surprised if The Bahamas’ Prime Minister,
Perry Christie, puts his archipelago of islands on the
list.
After all, Bahamas with a well-developed
infrastructure and a per capita income of almost
(US)$15 000, the highest in the Caribbean and Latin
America and one of the highest in the developing
world, The Bahamas is certainly considered a well-off
nation.
Although Barbados hasn’t given its plan an official
label, Trinidad and Tobago is calling its strategy
"Vision 2020", meaning that it has set the year - 2020
as the timetable to move from developing to developed.
“Vision 2020 means the creation of opportunities for
our citizens in the shortest possible time, certainly
by the year 2020,” Conrad Enil, Trinidad and Tobago’s
Minister in the Ministry of Finance, told a Wall
Street dialogue in New York recently.
“The document we prepared in 2002, entitled Social
Economic Policy Framework, clearly identified our
fiscal and human development agendas. We have the
political will to achieve these goals.”
Victoria Mendez-Charles, permanent secretary in the
Ministry of Planning and Development in Port-of-Spain,
agreed.
“Vision 2020 is the longer term strategic plan,” she
said.
“It represents an important shift from the three-year
policies of previous years.”
The objective was clear, she added.
“The plan envisages the attainment of developed
country status by 2020 if not before,” stated the
permanent secretary.
“Within this period we expect each and every
individual to achieve his or her potential. We speak
about the provision of facilities for education and
health services, quality housing available for all
citizens, nutrition needs met, and our ability to
address HIV/AIDS. Human development is being
underscored.”
Enil went a step further.
“We are developing our human resource capability in
the public administration, looking at value for money
programmes, financial management reforms and
improvements in project management capability,” he
said.
For its part, Barbados is preparing a somewhat similar
document, say officials and Bajans may soon consult
the public about its content.
Almost five years ago, Prime Minister Owen Arthur,
outlined his vision for Barbados, stating plainly that
he wanted to push the island-nation into “developed
nation status.”
He repeated the pledge during the May general election
campaign, insisting that Barbados would get there
first.
According to the experts, both Barbados and Trinidad
and Tobago have some things going for them, factors
that could influence the outcome of the race.
They point out that Barbados already has the jump on
Trinidad and Tobago when it comes to human development
and infrastructure. Having been ranked by the United
Nations Human Development experts at 27th out of
almost 190 nations and territories around the world,
Barbados, they say, already has a developed nation
profile.
They point to the rates of literacy, life span, infant
mortality, and access to affordable and effective
health care as indicators which put Barbados ahead of
several Eastern European nations that are about to
become members of the European Union.
Trinidad and Tobago, on the other hand, was ranked
54th on the 2003 UN Human Development Index and The
Bahamas was 49th.
Barbados, with 95 per cent of its roads paved, all of
its primary school age children enrolled; at least 80
per cent of its high school students attending
classes; telephones in most households; everyone
guaranteed access to clean water and improved
sanitation; the two-car household a fact of life; and
a per capita that’s close to $10 000, that’s about 30
per cent higher than Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados may
be well on its way.
But the energy rich nation that’s flush with cash has
the economy to propel it forward at a faster pace than
Barbados.
Trinidad and Tobago has one of the Western
Hemisphere’s fastest growing economies and its private
sector is Caricom’s most aggressive.
Small wonder then that Trinidad and Tobago is becoming
the Caribbean’s financial centre.
“One of the achievements of Trinidad and Tobago has
been our ability to maintain the soundness of the
financial system,” Ewart Williams, Central Bank
Governor, said recently.
“Over the last few years, with an open capital account
and with globalisation, it is becoming more difficult
to evaluate the condition of banks and other financial
institutions.
“First, we are broadening the authority of the Central
Bank by initially bringing insurance and pension funds
under the supervisory net, with credit unions and
mutual funds to follow,” he told Wall Street
executives from Moody’s Investor’s Service, UBS, JP
Morgan Chase, Credit Suisse First Boston and
Citigroup.
“As the banking system undergoes significant
consolidation, Trinidad and Tobago is becoming a
financial center for the Caribbean region, with an
upsurge in cross-border lending,” Williams pointed
out.
“We are now providing significant financial resources
regionally, through both governmental and private
placements. We are revising financial institution
legislation, particular as it relates to commercial
bank regulation, to provide more Central Bank
authority to deal with consolidation supervision and
cross-border lending.”
Who then attain developed status first?
The experts say it all depends on how the economic
situation plays itself out in the next 17 years or so.[-End] |
News
Travel Topics
Travel Forum Travel Directories
Dictionary 
Travel
Forum 
Caribbean 
No Spam
Adult 
Gambling
Unfinished
Deception
Plagiarism
Not English
