News

As part of the New Year, the ECSE has embarked on a Marketing Education and Awareness Campaign for the entire OECS. The campaign is developed for a period of 12 months and includes print, television and oral presentations. Focus sessions are targeted at schools, business houses, financial institutions, community and service groups, government departments and others.

The Multi-Agency Committee on Domestic Violence is voicing its concern about the number of cases dealing with domestic and sexual abuse of women and children currently before the Magistrate and the High Courts here in Anguilla. In a meeting this week, the Committee expressed outrage over the outcomes of two of those Cases in the Courts last week. The agency is mortified that while there were convictions in both cases, both perpetrators received non-custodial sentences in the form of probation.

Word from London is that Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick, the consultants for the expansion of the Wallblake Airport, have been requested to proceed immediately with the detailed design work and to refine the cost estimates within the agreed funding amount. According to a press statement on the talks between the Anguilla delegation and UK officials, consensus was reached on a planning figure for the project but the amount was not disclosed.

Health sector officials in Anguilla remain concerned about the increasing number of cases of gastroenteritis in recent weeks.

Anguilla is getting further assistance with the development of its National Health Plan which includes the establishment of a Health Authority and a National Health Insurance. Two officials of the Pan American Health Orgnisation, Marilyn Entwistle and Shirley Augustin, began a short-term consultancy here this week funded by the Department For International Development.

The private sector in Anguilla may need to take steps to put security measures in place or to improve any system it may already have to protect itself from robberies. Times are changing and we must be prepared to deal effectively with this type of crime as it rears its ugly head. We must not wait until it occurs to act but should anticipate it and have in place structures that may help to prevent it and to catch the perpetrators. Some sections of the private sector are equipped with burglar alarm systems but there are circumstances where there is a need for security officers to be employed.

The 23rd Edition of the Borza Internationale del Turismo (BIT) is scheduled to take place in Milan, Italy, from February 15th to 18th, 2003. Attending from Anguilla will be Marketing and Research Officer, Ms. Ernie T. Hodge, who left the island to attend the four day event. Also attending from the private sector will be representatives from Cocoloba Resort, Cap Juluca Hotel and Carimar Beach Club.

The Anguilla Government was presented with eighty computers and 30 inkjet printers which were distributed to the six public primary schools where Information Technology is part of the curriculum. The equipment was provided by The Mount Sinai School District of New York.

The Bishop of the Diocese Northeastern Caribbean and Aruba, the Right Reverend Errol Brooks, and Mrs. Brooks were hosts this week at St. Mary’s Rectory to the Reverend John Schild, a Parish Priest in the Diocese of St. Albans in England. He is also serving with the World Office of the Church of England building companionship links with other parts of the Anglican community. “My responsibility has been to build up links with the Province of the West Indies and, in particular, with the Diocese of the Northeastern Caribbean and Aruba as well as with the Dioceses of Jamaica, the Windward Islands, Guyana and Belize,” he said.

A two-member team from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the School of Medicine, University of Puerto Rico, visited Anguilla earlier this month as part of an initiative in the Eastern Caribbean.

Cable & Wireless would like to advise all its customers that from Monday 24 February 2003 they will be introducing a new service that will assist them in handling directory enquiries.

The Friends of the Hospital, one of the long-established non-governmental organisations in Anguilla, has made a presentation of US$500 to the Princess Alexandra Hospital.

The Leo Club has become the first youth organisation to achieve membership of the Anguilla National Trust having contributed more than one hundred East Caribbean dollars towards the work of the Trust.

The Government of Anguilla and All Island Cable TV signed an agreement on 25th August 1988. Under this agreement All Island Cable Television was allowed to provide television channels through its cable network in Anguilla. This Agreement provided for a fee of $2.70 E.C. per subscriber per month to be paid by All Island Cable TV to the Government of Anguilla. This amount has over the years been included in their charges to the customer.

Tourism officials from the Anguilla Tourist Board and the Anguilla Hotel & Tourism Association traveled to Puerto Rico on Friday February 7th to attend a series of meetings with potential strategic partners in the market place.

A mutual fund investing in companies around the world that have had at least a 15% growth and a net income to match in each of the past 5 years, has been launched here by First Anguilla Trust Company.

A formal meeting has been proposed for officials of the Women Desks in St.Maarten/St.Martin and the Chief Minister’s Office in Anguilla (which deals with Gender Affairs) to discuss areas of cooperation among other matters.

The Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2003, the shortest piece of legislation to come before the Anguilla House of Assembly in recent days, took a few seconds to be read by the Clerk but the protracted debate lasted for about nine and a half hours on Tuesday, February 4. That is an idea of the depth of the controversy that surrounded it from beginning to end. The members of the House finished that portion of the Order of Business about 9.30 p.m.

Hoteliers and other tourism representatives in the public and private sectors in Anguilla and two representatives of American Airlines have had discussions on the island about the planned withdrawal of the American Eagle ATR-42 aircraft by the end of the year and the need to expand Wallblake Airport to accommodate the ATR-72.

The meeting late last week among hoteliers, other stakeholders in the tourism industry and two top level officials of American Airlines at Paradise Cove resulted in more questions than answers. They met to discuss the planned withdrawal of the American Eagle from Anguilla on December 31 this year and the interim period during which work will be carried out on the expansion of Wallblake Airport. Originally, we heard that the project should be completed by September of that year and then that date was brought forward to March.