Tributes for former late Prime Minister Brizan in New York & D.C.

NEW YORK, March 6, 2012 – Two memorial tributes will be held in the United States for the late former Grenada Prime Minister George Brizan who died last month at the age of 69.

Mr Brizan, who became Prime Minister in 1995 following the resignation of Nicholas Brathwaite, died at the General Hospital in St George’s on February 18.

Messages of Condolences and Tributes have been expressed from various individuals and organisations in Grenada and around the world.

The Consulate-General in New York opened a book of condolence last week and will hold a tribute in honour of the former Prime Minister on Thursday in Brooklyn.

It will include Prayer and Scripture Readings by Canon Leopold Baynes and Rev. Wesley Daniels; remarks by Consul General Derrick James and tributes including songs, dances and poems.

The event in Brooklyn will be held at the Holy Cross School Auditorium at 2530 Church Avenue (between Rogers & Bedford Avenues), beginning at 7:00 p.m.

The Grenada Embassy in Washington, D.C. will also hold a Celebration of and Tribute to the Life and Legacy of former Prime Minister Brizan on Saturday at the Embassy’s Headquarters at 1701 New Hampshire Avenue, NW Washington, D.C., beginning at 4:30 p.m.

The programme will include remarks by Ambassador Gillian Bristol and tributes by Ambassador Hubert Charles, Dominica’s Ambassador to the United States; Cuthbert Braveboy and Historian and Author, John Angus Martin.

A Special Joint Sitting of the Grenada House of Representatives and the Senate was held on Tuesday. The former Prime Minister will be laid to rest on Friday March 16 in St George’s.

James relying on national support

NEW YORK - World 400m champion Kirani James has said that continued national support of athletes is important as they set sights on Olympic medals in 2012.

James, who was in New York on the weekend to receive an award from the Grenada Boys’ Secondary School’s Alumni Association of New York, warns that attention would be drawn on himself and Rondell Bartholomew in the one-lap event but they are prepared for the challenge.

“The journey has just started and I am relying on your continued support. It will take a lot for me and my colleagues to deliver at the Olympic Games in London but we are training hard to bring home the victory,” he said to thunderous applause.

“Next year will be challenging for us since Grenada has set a mark and the world will be coming for revenge, especially at the Olympics but we are determined to work hard and do our best in both the indoor and outdoor championships,” he said.

James, a 2009 graduate from the G.B.S.S., was one of two former alumni honoured at the 20^th Alumni Scholarship Awards and Dinner Dance. He was joined by Dr Anthony Bridgeman, a 1983 graduate and High School Principal in Long Island, New York.

Also in attendance were Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Peter David, Ambassador Gillian Bristol and Consul General Derrick James.

“I want to thank you for your role in promoting tourism in Grenada,” said David, who is also an alumnus of the G.B.S.S. “Many times we think of tourism as persons who are non-Grenadians visiting Grenada and that is far from the truth. The truth is that Grenadians returning home play a significant role in our tourism industry,” he said.

He also thanked Kirani for his gold medal performance at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics last August.

President of the Alumni Association-NY, Michael Bascombe also acknowledged telecommunications company LIME Grenada Ltd in supporting the Gala event.

“We have also noted the interest shown in collaborating with the Association in the future and I would like to acknowledge the support of Telecommunications Company, LIME Grenada Ltd, for ensuring the participation of Kirani James here tonight,” he said.

He said that LIME Grenada has already indicated its willingness to support the association in its Scholarship Awards Programme.

The Alumni Association-NY presented scholarship awards to Brendan Nesfield and Danielle Regis.

Nesfield is majoring in Political Science and Pre-Law studies at Duke University and Regis attends Cornell University, where she is majoring in Environmental Engineering.

The association also presented an award to long-standing member and former president Dr Kenrick Lewis.

Ambassador Cuisia calls on Grenada’s Ambassador to the US

WASHINGTON D.C., October 18, 2011 – The Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. paid a courtesy call on Grenada’s Ambassador to the United States Gillian M.S. Bristol.

Ambassador Cuisia is also concurrently accredited as ambassador to Grenada.

The two diplomats discussed opportunities to strengthen relations between the Philippines and Grenada.

Ambassador Cuisia also welcomed the assistance offered by Ambassador Bristol, who served for 15 years at the Organization of American States Secretariat, in broadening the Philippines’ engagement with the hemispheric group.

Ambassador Bristol committed to convey to the government of Grenada the Philippines’ request for support for the candidature of Mr. Miriam Defensor Santiago to the International Criminal Court.

SOURCE: Department of Foreign Affairs, Republic of the Philippines

Grenada Assumes the Presidency of the Permanent Council

WASHINGTON, DC, April 1, 2011 - The Permanent Representative of Grenada to the Organization of American States (OAS), Ambassador Gillian Bristol, received today from the outgoing president, Carmen Lomellin of the United States, the mallet that represents the authority of the Permanent Council, the body that gathers the 33 active Member States of the hemispheric Organization. 

During the ceremony, that took place at OAS headquarters in Washington, DC, Ambassador Lomellin highlighted the progress that the Council was able to achieve in the past few months and thanked the support received from all the countries “to move forward in a very positive way the agenda we have established”. She also alluded to the importance of counting with the support of all of the Member States in the upcoming months, the period during which the preparations for the OAS 41st General Assembly will take place.

Ambassador Bristol, for her part, thanked the confidence placed in her Government and made reference to the relation between development and security asserting that “it is a happy coincidence that El Salvador has chosen the topic of citizens security for this year’s General Assembly because as we all know, in the Small Island States of the Caribbean we are very concerned about the multifaceted nature of the threats that are posed to the security for the integrity and stability of our nations”.

The representative of Grenada restated her country’s commitment to the issue of security, its multidimensional nature and the impact that this issue has for the development of the countries of the region. “We must remember that it was the small Caribbean States that championed and brought this perspective to the OAS in the late 1990s and eventually it was embraced by the 34 Member States as being indeed the more realistic and accurate definition of security”.

The representative of the Caribbean country announced that she will work closely with the vice-presidency of the Council, assumed by the Permanent Representative of Costa Rica, Embajador Enrique Castillo.

OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza, Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin, and representatives of various Member Countries of the Organization were all present at the ceremony.

The Statute of the Permanent Council establishes that the Chairmanship of the Permanent Council is exercised successively by the head representatives of Member States, in alphabetical order of the Member States’ names in Spanish; the Vice Chair is exercised in the same way, though following reverse alphabetical order. Both positions are held for a period of three months.

From left to right:
Gillian Bristol, Chair of the OAS Permanent Council and Permanent Representative of the Grenada to the OAS
Carmen Lomellin, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the United States to the OAS
José Miguel Insulza, OAS Secretary General 
Albert R. Ramdin, OAS Assistant Secretary General

Date: April 01, 2011        
Place: Washington, DC
Credit: Juan Manuel Herrera/OAS

Grenadian institution receives donation

Amb Bristol accepts donation from Club

by Michael Bascombe
WASHINGTON, DC, USA, January 12, 2011 - The Queen’s Elizabeth Children’s Home has received a financial donation from a North American sports club.

The Scaribis Scramblers Golf Club made a presentation of US$1,500.00 to the Home during its annual Banquet and Awards Ceremony last weekend in Maryland, USA. Grenada’s Ambassador to the United States Gillian Bristol accepted the donation, on behalf of the Children’s Home, from President of the Club, Cecil Phillips.

The Scaribis Scramblers Golf Club is a non-profit organisation which comprises of amateur golfers representing Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States.

In accepting the donation, Ambassador Bristol said that the Home is currently expanding and in need of assistance including scholarships, staff, transportation and health care for the children.

Remarks

Acceptance of charitable donation to Queen Elizabeth Children's Home

Thank you Mr. Cox for your very warm welcome and kind words of introduction.

My thanks also to the Scaribis Scramblers Club for the kind invitation to me and for giving me the honor to join you to today.

I stand here today with very deep emotions.

First of all, immeasurable gratitude for the kindheartedness and generosity of the members of the Scaribis Scramblers Club for your generosity of spirit demonstrated by this gift to the Q. E. Children's Home.

Secondly, with joy for the benefits that your gift will bring to the underprivileged abused children who have found refuge at the Q. E. Children's Home.

Thirdly, with a deep recognition of the honor you pay to my country by having selected its youngest and most vulnerable citizens to be the recipients of this your first ever charitable donation.

And lastly, but most profoundly I am filled with sadness at the suffering and plight of our children, our most innocent and defenseless, our infants.

Notwithstanding this, I am moved to hope by your act of voluntary charity that these young lives will have a greater chance to recover from their horrible experiences, find comfort in the new place they now share and call Home, and eventually become successful adults. However, this hope of mine goes beyond the physical improvements that will be made within the walls and shelter that is the Q. E. Children's Home. The hope I feel today resides in each of you - the members of this Club. It lies in your giving hearts because it is only good, caring and generous people of conscience and civic duty like you who can make a real difference in these children's lives, who can improve social conditions so that the abusive situations suffered by little children can be eliminated, so that one day there will be no more need for institutions like the Q. E. Children's Home.

I am proud to accept this gift on behalf of the Home and also to be associated with such a noble and kind gesture.  The Chairman of the Board that manages the Home, Mrs. Marion Greasley Pierre, has asked that I convey to you the sincerest appreciation of the entire management team, staff and mostly that of the children of the Home for your kindness. The facility is currently being expanded, scholarships are needed for the children to attend proper schools, and qualified Staff, transportation, & health care are required daily. The needs are endless and your contribution is assured to be put to good use immediately.

On behalf of the Q. E. Children's Home, the Government and people of Grenada and on my own behalf, please accept our congratulations to each of you for this initiative and our wishes for your success with many more ventures of this kind.

Thank you.

Grenada proposes modernisation of CIM

MEXICO CITY, Mexico, November 5, 2010 – Grenada has tabled proposals to modernise the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) and make its activities more practical and impact more tangibly on daily lives of all women and girls throughout the Americas.

The proposals were presented by Permanent Representative to the Organisation of American States (OAS), Ambassador Gillian Bristol during Plenary of the Thirty-Fifth Assembly of CIM which ended in Mexico City on Friday.

Delegates have been examining amendments to the CIM Statutes, election of new officers, and consideration of the draft Declaration of the Inter-American Year of Women and draft resolutions, among others.

Ambassador Bristol underscored the important mandate and role of the Commission and recognised its accomplishments since its inception 82 years ago.

However, she emphasised the urgent need to deliver concrete improvements in the situations faced particularly by women and girls and proposed that this can be achieved by the adoption of a programmatic and results-based approach.

Grenada’s commitment to gender equality was also reiterated at the Assembly with the presentation of the national report.

“At the regional level, the Government of Grenada pledges to support the work undertaken by CIM in the short term,” the report stated.

More than 80 percent of public workers in Grenada are women and about 95 percent of the persons occupying the highest administrative positions as Permanent Secretaries in the Public Service are also women, including the Cabinet Secretary.

Grenada was the first country in the English-speaking Caribbean to establish a Ministry of Women’s Affairs during the period of the People’s Revolutionary Government (1979-1983). For the first time this year Grenada will celebrate International Men’s Day with activities scheduled for November 19.

“The intention of the celebration is to recognise men’s contribution and highlight the need to partner with women in resolving conflicts and dealing with problems in an effort to create a better family life and by extension a more peaceful society,” the report said.

Last Friday, the House of Representatives approved the Domestic Violence Act, 2010 which provides protection for victims of domestic violence. The Act also seeks to protect everyone including men.

Minister Burke signs loan agreement for Feeder Roads Project

WASHINGTON, DC, October 14, 2010 – Grenada and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) have signed a US$8.5 million loan agreement for the second phase of the Agricultural Feeder Roads Project.

The agreement was signed in Washington, DC last Friday by Finance Minister, Nazim Burke and the Director General of OFID, Suleiman Al-Herbish.

The Finance Minister hailed the signing of the loan agreement as “an important development as Government seeks to expedite public sector projects to promote job creation and economic growth”. “Indeed, this was one of the commitments given by Prime Minister Tillman Thomas in his national address on September 7, 2010”.

Mr Burke thanked the OFID for “its continuing support for development of Grenada especially in the transport sector”.

Mr Al-Herbish indicated that OFID is happy to support Grenada in this second phase as it was pleased with the impact of the first phase of the project.

The second phase of this project will cost approximately EC$52 million and provides for the rehabilitation or upgrading of 30.6 kilometres of agricultural feeder roads throughout Grenada. The works will include the rehabilitation or construction of drainage systems, sea defences and bridges.

The other funders of the project are the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development and the Government of Grenada.

Minister Burke was accompanied by Timothy Antoine, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Her Excellency Gillian Bristol, Ambassador to the United States of America and Christopher De Riggs, Director for Private Sector Development in the Ministry of Finance.

Finance Minister addresses Small States Forum at World Bank Meeting

Washington, DC, October 11, 2010 - Grenada’s Finance Minister Nazim Burke wants a strengthening of the partnership between Small Developing Countries and the World Bank to overcome many of the economic challenges.

Addressing a Small States Forum (SSF), held on the margins of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington, DC on the weekend, Minister Burke said that “partnerships will ensure we overcome the challenges we face.”

The Grenadian Minister was among a panel of speakers who were discussing their most pressing challenges but focusing on development prospects in the context of the current economic environment and emerging global issues, including climate change and food and energy security.

Speaking on the theme “Adapting to Global Challenges: Climate Change and Food and Energy Security”, Mr Burke outlined key vulnerabilities and their negative impact on the development of small states.

He reiterated the objectives of food security and the constraints faced by small States, some with limited availability of arable land for food crops.

Minister Burke said that the high cost of energy relative to such macro-economic indicators as export earnings, with energy costs being disproportionately high in this regard.

He made the link between climate change as a global phenomenon and catastrophic weather events like Hurricane Ivan which damaged more than 90 per cent of Grenada’s housing stock at an estimated cost of US$900 million (200% of GDP).

Minister Burke highlighted key issues which should inform the approach by the World Bank in treating with these vulnerabilities, including long-term strategic planning based on detailed modelling of climate impact; Mainstreaming disaster risk management, climate resilience and weather proofing, and food security and energy security into a unified and holistic development plan; and Institutional and capacity-building at regional and national levels to receive, manage, implement and monitor climate-related finance and their associated programs and projects.

The Forum was chaired by Winston Dookeran, Minister of Finance, Trinidad and Tobago and other speakers included Minister Burke; Robert Zoellick, President, World Bank Group; Danny Faure, Vice-President and Minister of Finance, Seychelles; and senior representatives of the European Union and the World Bank.

The Finance Minister led Grenada’s delegation to the 2010 Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank Group in Washington, DC. The delegation also included Permanent Secretary Timothy Antoine, Ambassador Gillian Bristol and Director of the Office of Private Sector Development within the Ministry of Finance, Christopher DeRiggs.

Grenada and US discuss Education

WASHINGTON, D.C. August 18, 2010 - Officials from Grenada have been exploring various ways in which Grenada can benefit from Educational opportunities through the United States Department of Commerce (DOC).

Officials of both countries discussed these areas on Monday via a Teleconference initiated by the Embassy of Grenada in Washington, DC. And which included Mrs Elizabeth Henry-Greenidge, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development; Ambassador Gillian Bristol, Head of Mission, Embassy of Grenada; Ms. Shawn Marie Ricks, Senior International Trade Specialist, Office of the Western Hemisphere, DOC; and Ms. Michelle Brooks, International Trade Specialist, Office of North and Central America and the Caribbean, DOC.

They discussed Grenada’s participation in a series of engagements including the Americas Competitiveness Forum (ACF) which is scheduled for Atlanta, Georgia, November 14-16, 2010.

Grenada is considering participating in two of the education panels at the ACF: “The Role of Technology in Improving Academic Performance” for which the lead is Promethean Inc. and “Retooling the Post-Secondary Education Model: The Growing Influence of Community Colleges in the Americas”.

The ACF will also offer a prime opportunity for Grenada to advance its educational and trade agenda as a meeting is being organised between the US Secretary for Commerce and CARICOM Heads of Delegation attending the ACF in November. While the teleconference focussed on education, the ACF is geared primarily toward trade and investment opportunities. The DOC officials informed that key Ministers in Trade and Finance of the Grenada Government have been invited to attend.

The DOC is also organising an Educational Trade Mission in 2011 to bring representatives of academic institutions in the USA to counterpart institutions in the Caribbean, and agreed at the teleconference to include Grenada.

The DOC representatives also discussed the possibility of educational institutions in Grenada teaming up with counterpart institutions in the USA on study exchange programmes and teacher training programmes. Permanent Secretary Henry-Greenidge's interest in improving the capacity at the Grenada National Training Agency was met with a favourable response from the DOC officials.

Other initiatives discussed included the DOC assistance with contacts at major IT and ITC companies in the USA to explore possibilities for cooperation and partnership with the Grenada Government’s initiatives in education.

Photo: L-R…Michelle Brooks, Ambassador Bristol & Shawn Marie Ricks