Carib Scope

分类： business

  • ONDA reports record surge in copyright registrations in the Dominican Republic

    ONDA reports record surge in copyright registrations in the Dominican Republic

    In a significant milestone for the Dominican Republic’s creative and entrepreneurial ecosystems, the country’s National Copyright Office (ONDA) has announced a dramatic surge in copyright registrations by local creators, a shift that points to rapidly expanding public awareness around the value of intellectual property protection.

    ONDA Director General José Ruben Gonell Cosme shared that the agency has undergone a remarkable transformation in processing volumes over recent years. Where it once handled roughly 1,400 work registrations annually, it closed 2025 with nearly 34,000 copyrighted works formally registered and protected. This explosive growth has carried into 2026, with a single month in April recording more than 19,000 new registrations alone.

    Beyond the raw volume increase, Gonell noted that the scope of copyright protection has also expanded dramatically beyond the traditional categories most creators associate with copyright law. Today, the office recognizes protection for more than 60 distinct types of creative and commercial work, ranging from long-protected categories such as music and literary publications to modern assets like software, video game content, original culinary recipes, and architectural blueprints. For independent creators and small business owners across the country, this formal legal protection has emerged as a valuable economic asset that can be leveraged for revenue generation, investment, and long-term business growth.

    Gonell also emphasized that the country’s progress in intellectual property regulation earned international recognition when the Dominican Republic was removed from the United States’ Special 301 Watch List, a development that has significantly boosted legal certainty for both domestic and foreign investors looking to engage with the country’s creative and tech sectors. Even as the agency celebrates this milestone of growing registration volumes, however, Gonell acknowledged that gaps remain in intellectual property awareness. Key sectors including independent publishing and traditional crafts still see large shares of creators failing to formalize protection for their work, leaving their creative assets vulnerable to exploitation.

    Looking ahead, ONDA will continue prioritizing outreach and educational programs to expand awareness of intellectual property rights across under-served sectors. It also maintains an active focus on mediation services to reduce piracy of copyrighted material, while proactively preparing regulatory frameworks to address emerging challenges tied to artificial intelligence development and the evolving impact of major digital content platforms.

  • Antigua Cruise Port Highlights Progress on Waterfront Upland Development

    Antigua Cruise Port Highlights Progress on Waterfront Upland Development

    Antigua Cruise Port has dropped a fresh progress update for its transformative waterfront upland development project at St. John’s Harbour, offering the public a bird’s-eye view of ongoing construction via newly published aerial drone imagery. The visual update confirms that major works at the site are advancing according to schedule, with preparations now underway for a key ancillary component of the larger scheme: an expanded vehicle parking zone. The proposed additional parking lot has already been demarcated with perimeter fencing, and preliminary site clearing has been completed to make way for full construction work to begin. Project leaders anticipate that the expanded parking capacity will cut down on congestion and boost overall accessibility, delivering greater convenience for both local Antiguans going about their daily lives in the area and the thousands of cruise tourists that visit the port each year. In a public statement shared alongside the new imagery, Antigua Cruise Port emphasized that the broader waterfront transformation initiative is designed to deliver far more than just infrastructure upgrades. The organization says the end goal is to craft completely new visitor experiences, expand usable public green and gathering spaces, and cultivate a completely reimagined, vibrant waterfront atmosphere that will serve as a new landmark for St. John’s. This ongoing waterfront development is not an isolated project: it forms a core part of a wider, multi-million dollar portfolio of port and tourism infrastructure upgrades being rolled out across Antigua by Global Ports Holding, operating through its local subsidiary Antigua Cruise Port. The larger upgrade program is aimed at boosting Antigua’s competitiveness as a top Caribbean cruise destination, supporting long-term growth in the island nation’s key tourism sector and creating new economic opportunities for local communities.

  • From DCash to FPS, the ECCB’s quiet financial reset

    From DCash to FPS, the ECCB’s quiet financial reset

    For years, regional leaders and financial experts framed DCash, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB)’s ambitious retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) project, as the inevitable future of finance across the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU). Unveiled to the public in 2021, the digital wallet pilot rolled out across four founding nations — Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Lucia — promising to revolutionize everyday transactions, from purchasing local produce at neighborhood markets to settling informal debts between friends. Touted as a cutting-edge leap forward for the region’s financial system, DCash was meant to position the ECCU as a global pioneer in central bank digital currency innovation.

    But a quiet, transformative policy shift revealed in the ECCB Monetary Council’s 112th Meeting Communique, published on May 4, 2026, has brought the DCash 2.0 development project to an official end. What appears on the surface to be a major failure of regional digital ambition, however, is actually a pragmatic course correction that could lay stronger groundwork for long-term financial integration and growth across the Caribbean.

    The decision to suspend DCash 2.0 is a quiet acknowledgment of a core reality that many fintech innovators overlook in small island economies: consumers prioritize stability and familiarity over technological novelty. Most people do not demand an entirely new currency to manage their daily finances; they simply want their existing money to move more quickly, cheaply, and reliably across accounts and borders. For populations that have long relied on established traditional banking systems to hold their salaries, savings, and essential living funds, trust in familiar infrastructure outweighs the appeal of untested new tools. Even after years of outreach and rollout, DCash never achieved the mass adoption the ECCB had hoped for, in large part because it required users to join a completely separate digital ecosystem disconnected from their existing bank accounts. The friction of learning a new system and splitting financial activity between two separate platforms proved an insurmountable barrier for most everyday users.

    Rather than abandoning digital financial innovation entirely, the ECCB has shifted its focus from high-profile retail CBDC experimentation to far more practical, behind-the-scenes infrastructure upgrades. The new top priority is the Fast Payment System (FPS), a framework that improves rather than replaces the region’s existing banking structure. Unlike DCash, the FPS does not require users to adopt a new currency or a standalone digital wallet. Instead, it modernizes the core processing backbone of current banks, enabling instant, 24/7 transfers of existing Eastern Caribbean dollars between any users across the region, using nothing more than a phone number or QR code. No longer will customers have to wait multiple business days for transfers to clear just because they use different banks — a payment from a customer at Republic Bank to a merchant at Grenada Co-operative Bank will settle in seconds, not days.

    This shift aligns with broader Open Banking principles designed to boost interoperability between disparate financial institutions across the Eastern Caribbean. Even more consequential for regional trade is the ECCB’s new commitment to the pilot program for the Caricom Payments and Settlement System (CAPSS), a project that aims to resolve one of the most longstanding pain points for Caribbean businesses: the exorbitant cost and friction of cross-border transactions. For decades, regional businesses that pay suppliers in other Caricom nations have been forced to convert their local currency to U.S. dollars first, paying steep conversion fees and high wire transfer charges that eat into already thin profit margins for small island enterprises. CAPSS will create a unified regional settlement layer that allows businesses to pay cross-border suppliers directly in local currency, with participating central banks handling all settlement behind the scenes, eliminating the need for costly intermediate conversions.

    ECCB Governor Timothy Antoine has long articulated the goal of “The Big Push,” an ambitious plan to double the size of the ECCU’s total economy by 2035. Viewed through that lens, the pause in DCash 2.0 is no retreat from innovation — it is a strategic refocus that prioritizes tangible utility over flashy, hype-driven fintech optics. The central bank is stepping back from the crypto-adjacent excitement around standalone digital tokens and redirecting resources to the unglamorous but critical work of fixing the region’s fragmented, inefficient cross-border and inter-bank infrastructure.

    In the global finance space, the most impactful, lasting changes are rarely the flashy consumer-facing apps that draw headlines. The most transformative improvements are the upgrades to the hidden “plumbing” of the financial system that make every transaction faster, cheaper, and more reliable for businesses and consumers alike. For the Eastern Caribbean, that hidden plumbing just got a much-needed overhaul.

  • OPINION: From DCash to Fast Payments. The ECCB’s Quiet Financial Reset

    OPINION: From DCash to Fast Payments. The ECCB’s Quiet Financial Reset

    For half a decade, the Eastern Caribbean financial sector has been anchored on a bold vision: a central bank-issued digital wallet called DCash that would redefine how people manage daily transactions across the region. Unveiled as a public pilot in 2021 across four Eastern Caribbean nations — Antigua & Barbuda, Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis, and St. Lucia — the project was framed as a revolutionary Retail Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB). It promised to transform everything from local market purchases of fresh goods to informal peer-to-peer payments, positioning the small island bloc as a global leader in fintech innovation. But a quiet policy shift buried in the ECCB Monetary Council’s 112th Meeting Communique, published May 4, 2026, reveals a major strategic course correction: the regional authority has officially suspended development of the DCash 2.0 upgrade, bringing the original CBDC experiment to a close while opening a new chapter for digital financial integration across the Caribbean. The decision to pull back on DCash 2.0 is not a full rejection of digital currency innovation, but rather a quiet acknowledgment of a core truth that often plagues new financial technologies: most consumers do not crave an entirely new currency. What they actually want is a faster, more seamless way to use the money they already hold. For small island developing economies like those in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU), this dynamic is even more pronounced: consumer trust in established financial systems far outweighs excitement for untested novelty. While locals were willing to test the DCash app for small, occasional transactions, they remained hesitant to move their salaries, long-term savings, and core monthly spending to a standalone digital system disconnected from their traditional bank accounts. This structural friction proved to be DCash’s insurmountable barrier. The project required users to adopt an entirely separate digital financial ecosystem, cut off from the incumbent banking infrastructure that most residents already relied on. Despite years of outreach and pilot adjustments, widespread mass adoption never materialized, prompting regional leaders to re-evaluate their approach. Instead of abandoning digital financial modernization entirely, the ECCB has reframed its priorities, shifting away from flashy retail-facing CBDC experiments to a far more practical, infrastructure-focused goal: building deeper, more interconnected financial markets across the region. Dubbing the shift an upgrade to the financial “pipes” of the ECCU, the central bank is now centering its work on the Fast Payment System (FPS), a project that upgrades the underlying infrastructure of existing local banks rather than building a parallel standalone system. The core objective of FPS is straightforward: to enable consumers and businesses to send standard Eastern Caribbean (EC) dollars to any recipient across the region instantly, at any time of day or night, using nothing more than a mobile number or a QR code. Under the new framework, cross-institutional transfers that once took multiple business days to clear will arrive in seconds, regardless of whether the sender and recipient hold accounts at different banks — for example, Republic Bank and the Grenada Co-operative Bank. This shift aligns with broader global open banking principles, which prioritize interoperability and seamless data and fund sharing between competing financial institutions. Even more consequential for regional economic growth is the ECCB’s new commitment to launching a pilot of the CARICOM Payments and Settlement System (CAPSS), a project designed to tackle one of the most long-standing barriers to intra-regional trade: the punitive “cross-border tax” on international payments. For decades, Eastern Caribbean businesses looking to pay suppliers in other CARICOM nations like Trinidad and Tobago or Barbados have been forced to convert their local currency to U.S. dollars first, incurring exorbitant wire transfer fees and unfavorable exchange rates that eat into already thin profit margins. By joining the CAPSS initiative, the ECCU is helping to build a unified regional settlement infrastructure that will allow businesses to conduct cross-border transactions directly in local currencies. Under the new system, participating central banks will handle currency settlement behind the scenes, eliminating the need for intermediate U.S. dollar conversions and cutting down on excessive fees. ECCB Governor Timothy Antoine has long promoted “The Big Push,” an ambitious regional strategy aimed at doubling the size of the ECCU economy by 2035. Viewed through that lens, the suspension of DCash 2.0 is far from the failure it might appear to be at first glance. It is instead a strategic adjustment, prioritizing tangible, widespread utility over the flashy optics of being an early CBDC adopter. The central bank is moving away from the crypto-adjacent hype that surrounded early retail CBDC experimentation and refocusing on the unglamorous, critical work of repairing the region’s fragmented, outdated cross-border banking infrastructure. In the global financial sector, the most transformative changes are rarely the flashy retail-facing apps that draw headline attention. More often, they are the incremental upgrades to the hidden “plumbing” that underpins all everyday transactions. For the Eastern Caribbean, that plumbing is about to get a much-needed upgrade.

  • Lokale productie versterkt voedselzekerheid binnenland

    Lokale productie versterkt voedselzekerheid binnenland

    Against a backdrop of rising global food prices and growing economic risks tied to import dependency, Suriname has taken a concrete step to strengthen domestic agricultural production and shore up national food security, launching a three-day introductory poultry farming training program for rural residents in the country’s interior.

    The initiative, which ran from May 4 to 6 in the Langu area of Boven-Suriname, was officially opened last week by Suriname’s President Jennifer Simons. During the opening ceremony, President Simons emphasized the critical roles that local production expansion, community self-sufficiency and improved food security play in driving sustainable development across Suriname’s inland regions.

    Organized by Suriname’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (LVV), the beginner training forms part of a national series of poultry development programs rolled out by the ministry. The overarching goal of these initiatives is to grow domestic food output and embed sustainable poultry farming practices within rural local communities. A total of 35 local villagers participated in this first held session, receiving hands-on, guided instruction across all core components of small-scale poultry production.

    Over the three-day course, trainees covered a range of essential topics designed to build practical foundational skills, including poultry housing design and management, balanced feeding practices, routine animal care, basic poultry anatomy, and simple farm record-keeping. Theoretical instruction was led by expert trainers from the LVV’s Directorate of Livestock. To ensure all participants could fully access the course content regardless of language barriers, a designated local villager served as an interpreter to clarify complex technical concepts and industry terminology.

    This training program underscores the ministry’s commitment to expanding knowledge transfer and building capacity within Suriname’s agricultural sector. LVV officials stress that accelerating the growth of the domestic livestock sector is no longer an optional policy goal for the country—it is an urgent necessity. In the current global landscape marked by volatile food prices and the inherent risks of overreliance on imported food goods, strategic investment in local production capacity has become a priority for Suriname’s economic and food stability. Through targeted support, adoption of innovative practices, and widespread knowledge sharing, the ministry aims to empower local poultry producers to operate more efficiently, sustainably, and profitably.

    The training concluded with a celebratory closing ceremony. As a gesture of appreciation for the ministry and training team, participating villagers performed a traditional local Seketi dance for attendees and instructors on the final day. LVV has publicly expressed gratitude to all participants, trainers, and local community partners who contributed to the successful execution of the program, and reaffirmed its ongoing commitment to advancing the development of Suriname’s broader agriculture and livestock sectors.

  • Basic Items Cost More Than You Think, Depending on the Store

    Basic Items Cost More Than You Think, Depending on the Store

    As persistent grocery inflation pushes household budgets tighter across Belize, consumers are shifting from simple spending cuts to targeted strategic shopping to offset rising costs. A new on-the-ground investigation from News Five’s Paul Lopez set out to answer a critical question that many budget-conscious shoppers overlook: does the choice of where you buy groceries make a meaningful difference to total monthly spending, even when buying the exact same products? To test this, Lopez visited five separate grocery outlets across Dangriga Town, comparing prices for 10 widely used everyday household and grocery items to measure just how large price discrepancies can be. What the investigation uncovered confirms that those differences are far from negligible – and over time, they can add up to hundreds of dollars in extra annual spending for average families.

    Lopez launched the hands-on comparison equipped with a standardized list of common staples, ranging from cleaning supplies to pantry items and baby care products. The full list included Axion dishwashing liquid (400ml bottle), Suavitel laundry detergent (1.9-liter bottle), Fab soap powder, garbage bags, Dak chopped ham, Mazatun canned tuna, aluminum foil, kitchen towel, Heinz baked beans, and double extra-large Huggies diapers. The price variations started emerging immediately with the first product tested.

    For the standard 400ml Axion dishwashing liquid, Family City Imports offered the lowest price at $2.50 per bottle. Neighboring Huang Chen Supermarket and smaller local outlet J Mart both priced the same bottle at $2.95, a 45-cent increase from the lowest option. The Price is Right Supermarket came in at $2.75, while New Hong Store charged the highest rate at $3.50 – a full dollar more than the lowest available price for the identical product.

    When it came to small tins of Dak chopped ham, Huang Chen and J Mart tied for the highest price at $4.50, while New Hong Store surprisingly offered the lowest rate at $4.25, a 25-cent difference. The investigation also found one consistent outlier: Mazatun brand canned tuna held a steady price of $2.75 across all five stores surveyed.

    For 1.9-liter bottles of Suavitel laundry detergent, available at four of the five locations, Huang Chen again posted the highest price at $7.50, with Family City Imports close behind at $7.25. J Mart offered the same bottle for $6.75, marking a 75-cent discount compared to Huang Chen and a 50-cent saving versus Family City.

    The gap grew even wider for a can of Heinz baked beans: New Hong Store charged the highest price at $4.50, while J Mart offered the same can for $3.75 – a 75-cent difference that puts New Hong’s price 20% higher for the identical product. All other surveyed stores landed below the $4.00 mark for this item. For a box of Fans Corn Flakes, Family City Imports priced it at $6.75, while New Hong Store sold the same box for $6.25. For a pack of double XL Huggies diapers, Family City charged $23.75, while The Price is Right sold the identical pack for $22.50, a $1.25 saving.

    The investigation’s core takeaway is clear: while a small number of branded products maintain consistent pricing across retail outlets, most everyday staples see significant price variation from store to store in Dangriga. For households working with tight budgets that require stretching every dollar, these small per-item differences add up to substantial total savings over a full grocery run. By strategically choosing which retailer to visit for different items, local families can cut their monthly grocery costs without changing the products they buy.

  • Dredging of Demerara River begins in June

    Dredging of Demerara River begins in June

    Guyana is set to launch a critical infrastructure upgrade for its key maritime trade route next month, after officials signed an $11.2 million contract with regional dredging firm Boskalis CPG Inc. this Tuesday.

    The project, first announced by Public Utilities and Aviation Minister Deodat Indar, will target a 9-kilometer stretch of the Demerara River’s navigational channel running between the communities of Houston and Golden Grove. Over a two-month construction period, crews will widen the channel to 100 meters and deepen it to 5 meters, addressing longstanding navigation challenges that have limited access for larger commercial vessels.

    The official contract signing ceremony was held this week, with MARAD Director-General Stephen Fraser putting pen to paper on behalf of Guyana’s Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), which falls under Indar’s ministry. Senior government officials including Permanent Secretary Vishal Ambedkar, alongside leadership from both MARAD and Boskalis CPG, were in attendance to witness the milestone agreement.

    In an official statement following the signing, the ministry outlined the far-reaching benefits the completed dredging work will deliver for Guyana’s economy. Once finished, deeper, wider waters will allow larger cargo vessels to access the Demerara channel safely and reliably, cutting wait times for shipping and boosting overall port efficiency. The upgrade is also expected to support the consistent, sustainable movement of domestic and international goods and services, strengthening the country’s entire maritime sector.

    Minister Indar emphasized that the project comes directly in response to feedback from Guyana’s shipping industry, which has repeatedly called for additional dredging work to unlock the Demerara River’s full trade potential after years of increasing commercial activity along the waterway. Construction is scheduled to kick off in June 2026, with completion targeted for the end of the third quarter of the year.

  • New BTMI board appointed amid tourism growth push

    New BTMI board appointed amid tourism growth push

    The Caribbean island nation of Barbados has announced a major leadership reshuffle at its national tourism authority, tapping seasoned business executive Peter Harris to take the helm of Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI) as the country works to bolster its competitive position in the fast-shifting global travel landscape. Harris will succeed outgoing chair Shelly Williams, with industry veteran Gayle Talma stepping into the newly vacant role of deputy chair for the two-year appointment term.

    The changes were made public Tuesday in an official statement released by Barbados’ Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Ian Gooding-Edghill, who framed the board restructuring as a strategic move to assemble a cross-functional team with the diverse skill set required to navigate modern tourism industry challenges. In addition to the top two leadership appointments, the refreshed 13-member board includes a roster of seasoned professionals from across the sector: Sheldene Matthews-Mottley, Andrea Brome, Carol Roberts-Reifer, Ronnie Carrington, Jo-ann Roett, Patricia Affonso-Dass, Kevyn Yearwood, Nicholas Parker, Paul Collymore, Senator Ryan Forde, Cicely Callender, and Francine Blackman, who serves as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and International Transport.

    Gooding-Edghill emphasized that the new board’s core mandate centers on rolling out Barbados’ updated tourism marketing framework, building consistent global brand recognition for the island as a top travel destination, and delivering steady year-over-year growth in international visitor arrivals. The minister stressed that urgent, focused work is needed to speed up the implementation of the island’s long-term tourism growth strategy, particularly against a backdrop of ongoing global geopolitical volatility that creates uncertainty for international travel flows.

    Barbados’ tourism sector has posted solid, resilient performance in recent years, but Gooding-Edghill noted that ongoing proactive planning is critical to prepare for unforeseen external shifts that could disrupt the industry. As the backbone of the country’s economy and social fabric, tourism revenue drives critical public services and livelihoods across the island, making sustained growth a top national priority, he added. Beyond brand building and visitor growth, the board will oversee two key strategic pillars that are central to the government’s expansion plans: the continued expansion of the island’s airlift access initiative, and targeted efforts to grow visitor numbers from high-potential emerging markets, alongside the island’s established traditional source markets.

    “Our successful airlift strategy will continue to be one of the key pillars central to our tourism growth strategy, along with our further stimulation of emerging markets to add to our existing source markets, to generate increased arrivals to Barbados,” Gooding-Edghill said in the statement. He closed by extending official gratitude to outgoing chair Shelly Williams, recognizing her contributions to Barbados’ tourism development during her tenure leading the BTMI board.

  • Brian Murphy Appointed Incoming Chairman of the Antigua & Barbuda Hotels and Tourism Association

    Brian Murphy Appointed Incoming Chairman of the Antigua & Barbuda Hotels and Tourism Association

    The Antigua & Barbuda Hotels and Tourism Association (ABHTA) has announced the appointment of Brian Murphy as its incoming chairman, a move that industry insiders say signals a new chapter of strategic growth for the Caribbean nation’s critical tourism sector.

    Murphy, a longstanding figure in the region’s hospitality industry with decades of experience in hotel management and destination development, will step into the top leadership role of the association, which represents hundreds of accommodation providers, tourism service businesses and industry stakeholders across the twin-island nation.

    Tourism is the backbone of Antigua & Barbuda’s national economy, contributing more than 60% of the country’s gross domestic product and employing nearly half of the local workforce. Following the sharp industry-wide downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the association has prioritized rebuilding visitor confidence, expanding market reach, and advancing sustainable tourism practices to secure long-term resilience for the sector.

    Industry observers note that Murphy’s track record of collaborative leadership and deep understanding of both local operational challenges and global tourism trends positions him well to guide the association through its next set of priorities. These key initiatives include supporting small and medium-sized hospitality businesses, upskilling local tourism workforce, and promoting the islands’ brand as a premium, eco-conscious Caribbean travel destination in competitive global markets.

    The handover of the chairman role is scheduled to take place at the ABHTA’s annual general meeting in the coming months, where outgoing leadership will deliver their final report on the association’s recent achievements and outline ongoing priorities for the incoming leadership team.

  • OECS Root and Tuber Crop Symposium in Dominica sets course to restore regional food sovereignty

    OECS Root and Tuber Crop Symposium in Dominica sets course to restore regional food sovereignty

    Against a backdrop of intensifying climate change impacts and persistent global supply chain volatility, regional governing bodies in the Eastern Caribbean are turning to a long-neglected local food source — native root and tuber crops, commonly referred to as “ground provisions” — to build long-term food sovereignty and economic self-reliance across the bloc.

    Leading this landmark regional intervention are the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission and the Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica, which formally launched the coordinated initiative at the OECS Root and Tuber Crop Symposium held May 7–8, 2026, at the InterContinental Dominica Cabrits Resort & Spa. The two-day gathering brought together senior government officials, smallholder farmers, agricultural researchers and technical specialists to align the new root crop strategy with the OECS’s broader Food and Agriculture Systems Transformation (FAST) Strategy, an official OECS press release confirmed. Financial backing for the program is provided by the European Union through the 11th European Development Fund (EDF), delivered under the Regional Integration Through Growth Harmonisation and Technology (RIGHT) initiative.

    The effort comes amid a critical food security crisis across the Eastern Caribbean, where many member states rely on imports for as much as 90% of their domestic food consumption. This extreme import dependence has magnified economic vulnerability amid global supply shocks and pushed regional leaders to accelerate progress toward the CARICOM “25 by 2025 + 5” target, which aims to cut regional food imports by 25% through expanded local production.

    Speaking on behalf of Dominica Prime Minister Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit, Hon. Dr. Irving McIntyre, the island’s Minister for Finance, Economic Development, Climate Resilience and Social Security, opened the symposium by framing food system resilience as the foundation of national stability. “The Government of Dominica has consistently emphasized the importance of resilience as a central pillar of national development,” Dr. McIntyre told attendees. “That vision of resilience extends directly to agriculture, because no country can truly claim resilience while remaining heavily dependent on imported food and vulnerable supply chains.” He also paid tribute to regional farmers, who have sustained local communities through mounting environmental and economic headwinds.

    OECS Director General Dr. Didacus Jules positioned the root crop initiative as a return to the core regional principles of sustainability and self-determination, arguing that food sovereignty is inextricably linked to national dignity and collective security. “If we cannot feed ourselves, we are not truly secure,” Dr. Jules cautioned. He celebrated the natural resilience of crops including cassava, dasheen, and sweet potato, noting that these hardy staples grow steadily beneath the soil, drawing nutrients from the earth and withstanding extreme wind and drought conditions far better than many imported commodity crops. “The region’s long-term strength will come from strengthening what is locally produced and deeply rooted, rather than continued dependence on imported food systems,” he added.

    The urgent need for a shift to climate-resilient local agriculture was underscored by a recent climate disaster in Dominica: just days before the symposium, severe flooding and landslides on the island’s east coast destroyed extensive crops and damaged critical agricultural infrastructure. Dominica’s Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Blue and Green Economy, Hon. Roland Royer, used the recent event to argue for urgent modernization of the regional agricultural sector. “Agriculture today must be understood as business, innovation, food security and national resilience all working together,” Minister Royer asserted. “If agriculture in the OECS is to survive and grow, then it must become more resilient, more sustainable and more adaptable to the realities of a changing climate.”

    Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education Hon. Fenella Wenham-Sheppard expanded on this vision, highlighting both the intergenerational cultural significance and untapped economic potential of traditional root and tuber crops. She noted that these crops have carried Caribbean communities through past crises, and now hold major promise as a driver of inclusive economic growth. “Root crops must not only feed us fresh from the soil, they must become higher value products that create jobs, expand exports, and empower entrepreneurs,” she said. Wenham-Sheppard outlined opportunities to transform basic staple crops into high-value processed goods including gluten-free flour, natural purees, and craft beverages, opening new regional and international market opportunities for local producers.

    The symposium concluded with a series of concrete actionable outcomes to guide the sector’s long-term development. Key next steps include launching a dedicated OECS Food Production Technical Working Group to coordinate policy and implementation across member states, and developing a comprehensive OECS Root and Tuber Crop Roadmap to outline shared targets and timelines. Member states also reached a consensus to prioritize public and private investment in modern agricultural infrastructure, including solar-powered cold storage facilities and climate-smart irrigation hubs. The upgrades are designed to reduce post-harvest waste, improve producer competitiveness, and attract a new generation of young farmers to the Eastern Caribbean’s agricultural sector.