分类： world

High Commissioner Croney represents Grenada at Singapore Maritime Week 2026

The 20th iteration of Singapore Maritime Week (SMW) 2026 closed its doors at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre after a five-day run from April 20 to 24, drawing more than 20,000 stakeholders from nearly 80 countries and regions to confront the most critical issues facing the global maritime sector. Representing the Caribbean island nation of Grenada at the landmark gathering was Her Excellency Rachér Croney, Grenada’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

Organized under the central theme “Actions Meet Ambition”, this year’s anniversary edition of SMW brought together cabinet ministers, senior government officials, diplomatic representatives, C-suite industry leaders and veteran maritime professionals to unpack pressing challenges and untapped opportunities spanning decarbonization, digital transformation, geopolitical supply chain resilience and workforce talent development.

The official opening ceremony featured keynote addresses from two senior Singaporean leaders: Hon. Jeffrey Siow, Singapore’s Acting Minister for Transport and Senior Minister of State for Finance, and Gan Kim Yong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry. In his remarks, Siow highlighted the urgent need to bolster cross-border digital connectivity across the maritime ecosystem, outlined the game-changing potential of artificial intelligence to reshape industry operations, and outlined core global priorities including accelerating decarbonization, fostering disruptive innovation, and deepening cross-stakeholder collaboration. To advance digital integration, Siow formally announced the launch of OCEANS-X, a groundbreaking new digital platform built to unify fragmented maritime systems and data pools across public and private stakeholders worldwide. For his part, Deputy Prime Minister Gan emphasized the growing need to rebuild trust and strengthen systemic resilience in an increasingly fragmented geopolitical landscape, calling on all nations to deepen collaborative action and uphold the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to ensure no country or seafarer is left behind in the global maritime transition.

Beyond official plenary sessions, High Commissioner Croney held a series of high-level bilateral engagements on the sidelines of the summit. In a one-on-one meeting with Acting Minister Siow, the two representatives explored a wide range of mutually beneficial priorities, including maritime policy development frameworks, bilateral technical cooperation agreements, targeted capacity-building initiatives, and the potential to expand commercial shipping routes connecting to Grenada. The Grenadian High Commission noted it is eager to build on these early discussions, leveraging Singapore’s global reputation as a leading maritime hub and home to one of the world’s busiest container ports to turn ambitious goals into tangible progress for Grenada.

Croney also held productive talks with Karen Tan, Singapore’s Ambassador and Plenipotentiary Representative to the Caribbean Community (Caricom), focused on expanding the bilateral relationship between Grenada and Singapore as fellow member states of the Commonwealth. Dialogue centered on advancing capacity building, cross-border technology transfer, and technical cooperation across four core sectors: transportation, marine science and management, public administration, and foreign affairs. Both sides expressed enthusiasm for expanding training opportunities through the Singapore Cooperation Programme, as well as structured technical exchanges for mid- and senior-level Grenadian government officials, as the two governments work to deepen long-term collaborative ties.

As a core part of her program, High Commissioner Croney took part in a dedicated expert session focused on advancing global maritime decarbonization, which brought together top industry leaders to navigate the complex challenges of the global energy transition amid ongoing geopolitical uncertainty and shifting international regulatory frameworks. The session emphasized the so-called “energy trilemma” of balancing three core priorities: energy affordability, widespread accessibility, and long-term environmental sustainability, while also drawing attention to growing concerns around energy resilience and national energy security. Participants highlighted that ongoing innovation in alternative fuels — including the adoption of methanol, ammonia and liquefied natural gas (LNG) as lower-carbon replacements for traditional heavy fuel oil — marks meaningful progress toward meeting the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) global greenhouse gas strategy, which targets net-zero maritime emissions by 2050.

For climate-vulnerable Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like Grenada, progress on maritime decarbonization is far more than an industry goal — it is an existential priority. Croney emphasized that Grenada remains fully committed to partnering with pioneering nations and organizations leading the energy transition, and welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with global leaders to advance shared climate goals.

During the accompanying EXPO@SMW industry exhibition, Croney explored the latest cutting-edge technologies, sustainable infrastructure solutions and transformative innovations shaping the future of global trade and maritime connectivity. The exhibition serves as a global showcase for progress across four key pillars of maritime transformation: innovation, digitalization, decarbonization and talent development. Croney specifically highlighted strong interest in the newly launched OCEANS-X digital platform, noting that advanced cross-border maritime digital connectivity offered by the system could deliver outsized benefits to small island developing states like Grenada. The High Commission added that it looks forward to exploring opportunities for technology transfer and knowledge sharing of global best practices in partnership with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore going forward.

As both a Small Island Developing State and a self-identified “Big Ocean State,” Grenada’s high-level participation in SMW 2026 underscores the nation’s recognition that the future of its blue economy is deeply interconnected with global maritime trends and collective action. It also demonstrates Grenada’s commitment to active diplomatic engagement in multilateral maritime forums, and to building the strategic partnerships needed to deliver a resilient, sustainable and digitally connected maritime future for the island nation.

In closing remarks following the event, High Commissioner Croney noted: “SMW 2026 was an extraordinary platform for Grenada to engage at the highest levels on the issues that matter most to our maritime future, from decarbonisation to digital connectivity and bilateral cooperation with Singapore. We leave with strengthened relationships and a clear pathway to turning ambition into action for Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique.”

Organized annually by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, Singapore Maritime Week brings the global maritime community together for a full week of flagship conferences, policy dialogues, industry exhibitions and networking events. The 2026 anniversary edition marks two decades of pioneering innovation and cross-border partnership in the global maritime space.

29 4 月, 2026
Río Hondo Bridge to Close for Four Months

Cross-border travel and commerce between Belize and Mexico are set to face temporary disruption starting next week, as one of the key connecting border bridges closes for a comprehensive four-month reconstruction project. The Río Hondo International Bridge, which links Mexico’s Subteniente López community to the Corozal Free Zone on Belize’s side of the border, will be completely shut down to all traffic from May 1 through August 31, according to official announcements.

José Kelly, consul for Belize in Chetumal, has issued a public advisory urging all Belizean residents and travelers who regularly rely on the Río Hondo crossing to revise their travel itineraries and make alternative arrangements well in advance. The early planning step, Kelly emphasized, is critical to avoiding unnecessary travel delays and unexpected disruption to personal or business trips across the border.

In a statement confirming the project timeline, Kelly noted that pre-construction preparations for the reconstruction work have advanced on schedule, with all contractors and logistics aligned to meet the four-month completion deadline. To minimize the impact of the closure on cross-border activity, all immigration and customs services that previously operated at Río Hondo have already been relocated to the nearby Chac-Temal International Bridge, the alternate border crossing. At the new location, officials will continue to deliver all standard services, including processing applications for Regional Visitor Cards, conducting vehicle inspections, and carrying out mandatory border surveillance to maintain security.

To support the shift in operations, Mexico’s National Guard has been deployed to the alternate crossing site to manage increased traffic volumes, keep traffic moving smoothly, and uphold the stability of border operations throughout the reconstruction period. The upcoming construction work will deliver much-needed upgrades to key infrastructure on the aging bridge, including improvements to the bridge’s steel superstructure, replacement of the existing deck slab, refurbishment of pedestrian walkways and retaining walls, and updates to outdated traffic signage. Once completed, the renovated bridge will be able to support safer, more efficient cross-border travel and trade for years to come.

29 4 月, 2026
Extreme Heat Is Rewriting Food Security

As climate change accelerates global temperature rises and a new El Niño event approaches to strain underprepared food systems, international experts are sounding the alarm: extreme heat has already pushed global food production past critical thermal thresholds, and urgent action to build long-term heat readiness is required to avoid widespread shortages and harm.

Every component of the global food system – from staple grain crops to livestock to wild fisheries – has a specific thermal limit: a temperature point where heat stops being benign weather and becomes destructive. For most key agricultural species, this critical threshold arrives far earlier than public awareness suggests, with most growth and reproductive processes failing between 25°C and 35°C during sensitive growth stages such as flowering. Today, increasingly frequent heatwaves pushing temperatures into the mid-40s°C across the world’s major breadbasket regions have already pushed these systems past their safe limits. The consequences stretch across every link of the food supply chain: shrunken crop yields, weakened and dying livestock, stressed collapsing fisheries, elevated wildfire risk, and dangerous working conditions that threaten the farmworkers who form the foundation of global food production.

A joint report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), published April 22, quantifies the already tangible damage of rising heat to food systems. Documented extreme heat events have pushed beef cattle mortality as high as 24% in affected regions. Marine heatwaves have caused an estimated $6.6 billion in lost fisheries output. Projections show the situation will worsen as warming continues: for every 1°C of global temperature increase, average maize and wheat yields are expected to decline by 4 to 10%.

Adapting global food production to a hotter future requires sustained long-term investment in agricultural science, innovation, and infrastructure to match growing global food demand. This includes developing and deploying more heat-tolerant crop varieties and livestock breeds, updating conventional farming practices to account for rising temperatures, and making deliberate strategic choices about what crops and livestock can be sustainably raised in changing climates. But experts emphasize preparation cannot wait for mid-century or end-of-century targets – action is needed immediately to protect coming growing seasons.

With more intense heat forecast for the next several years and a new El Niño event on track to test systems that have not been updated to handle extreme heat, the top priority is shifting the global approach from reactive crisis response to proactive heat readiness. This transformation begins with accessible, actionable early warning systems and targeted practical interventions to help farmers protect their harvests, maintain stable supply chains, and safeguard their own health.

The United Nations’ Early Warnings for All initiative, coordinated by WMO with support from FAO and other partners, is built on the core idea that advance warning gives farmers time to protect their crops before heat causes irreversible loss. But early warnings only deliver value when they translate raw climate and weather data into specific, usable guidance for local producers, which requires robust observational infrastructure and localized modeling.

In Cambodia, the FAO-supported PEARL project, funded by the Green Climate Fund, has upgraded existing weather stations and installed new monitoring equipment to feed data to a mobile application that delivers crop-specific, region-tailored heat forecasts and guidance. When forecasts predict temperatures exceeding 38°C, the app sends targeted alerts recommending practical interventions: maintaining soil moisture through mulching, adding shade for sensitive vegetable crops, delaying rice sowing, and shifting irrigation to the cooler early morning and evening hours.

This guidance is part of a growing toolkit of low-cost, evidence-based interventions that cut producer losses before extreme heat escalates into a full-blown crisis. Other proven measures include shading crops with protective cloth or dual-purpose solar panels, expanding on-farm water storage capacity, installing low-cost cooling misters for livestock and high-value crops, and adjusting planting windows to avoid the hottest peak growth periods. For cattle, which generate excess metabolic heat during digestion, shifting feeding to cooler overnight hours reduces heat stress. Poultry, which lack the ability to sweat, require consistent shade to avoid mortality; in regions where extreme heat has become the new normal, many producers are shifting from heat-sensitive cattle to more tolerant goats and sheep as a viable adaptation.

Field trials in Pakistan demonstrate that these small adjustments deliver strong returns on investment. A FAO-GCF project tested a combined package of heat- and drought-tolerant cotton and wheat varieties paired with mulching and adjusted planting schedules over six growing seasons. The result: producers saw returns as high as $8 for every $1 invested in the adaptation package.

Extreme heat does not only damage food while it is still growing – it also accelerates post-harvest spoilage, turning crop stress into direct income loss for smallholders and reduced nutritional access for consumers. An estimated 526 million tonnes of global food production – roughly 12% of total annual output – is lost or wasted each year due to lack of adequate cold storage. In Jamaica, a GCF-funded, FAO-supported adaptation project has positioned cold chain infrastructure as a core climate adaptation measure, rolling out solar-powered cold storage units that let smallholders keep produce fresh and marketable during extreme heat events.

Even with cold chains and crop protection tools in place, the people who grow the world’s food remain at severe risk. Extreme heat is one of the deadliest workplace hazards for agricultural workers, causing acute dehydration, permanent kidney damage, chronic illness, and increased strain on already overburdened public health systems. More than one-third of the global workforce – around 1.2 billion people – face dangerous workplace heat exposure every year, and agriculture ranks among the hardest-hit economic sectors.

Proven basic protections for workers are already being implemented alongside crop guidance in Cambodia, where heat advisories also include recommendations for producers to shift heavy labor to cooler hours of the day and guarantee access to clean drinking water, shade, and regular rest breaks. The World Health Organization (WHO) and WMO are calling for this scaled-up integrated approach across all agricultural regions: adjusted work-rest schedules, guaranteed access to shade and safe water, training for workers and supervisors to recognize early signs of heat illness, and integration of climate forecasts into routine workplace heat risk management.

The tools and knowledge to prepare for increasing extreme heat already exist globally. The key gap holding back action is inadequate funding – far too little investment is allocated to agrifood system adaptation, and rural communities are often overlooked in climate planning that incorrectly frames extreme heat as primarily an urban problem. In 2023, just 4% of total global climate-related development finance went to agrifood system adaptation. Without a rapid increase in investment, early warnings will not reach the smallholder producers who need them most, agricultural extension services will remain underfunded, and basic protections for crops, livestock, and workers will remain out of reach for most vulnerable communities.

Experts emphasize that advance preparation is far more cost-effective than absorbing repeated annual losses from extreme heat events. Proactive planning stabilizes food production and consumer prices in the near term, while also creating space for the larger scientific and structural transformations that global agriculture will need to adapt to long-term warming.

This op-ed was contributed by Kaveh Zahedi, Assistant Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and Director of FAO’s Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment, and Ko Barrett, Deputy Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization. “We don’t need a new playbook,” they write. “We need to use the one we already have. The FAO-WMO report lays out the risks of extreme heat. Now is the time to use that evidence to protect food systems and the people who sustain them.”

29 4 月, 2026
Dominica strengthens ties with France and Guadeloupe

A landmark high-level diplomatic gathering bringing together senior officials from the Commonwealth of Dominica, the French Republic, and the French overseas region of Guadeloupe was recently held in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, with the core goal of advancing practical collaboration across multiple priority sectors of shared interest.

The meeting gathered key regional leadership, including Thierry Devimeux, the Prefect of Guadeloupe, Marie Noelle Duris, France’s Ambassador to the Eastern Caribbean, alongside a senior delegation of government representatives from Dominica. The in-person discussions centered on deepening institutional cooperation across five critical domains: cross-border judicial coordination, customs clearance and enforcement operations, shared fire and emergency rescue response frameworks, maritime domain security, and collaborative immigration management.

In a public statement shared to his official Facebook page following the talks, Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit reaffirmed his country’s longstanding commitment to building tangible, people-centered partnerships with both France and neighboring Guadeloupe. “Dominica deeply values its existing relationship with France and Guadeloupe as a close neighboring territory, and we remain fully committed to building practical partnerships that deliver direct benefits to our people,” Skerrit wrote. The Prime Minister also emphasized that targeted cross-regional cooperation is an essential tool for addressing transboundary challenges and unlocking shared development opportunities across the Eastern Caribbean.

Dominican officials participating in the talks also made clear that the country prioritizes partnerships that generate measurable, on-the-ground outcomes for ordinary citizens on both sides of the border, laying the groundwork for formal agreements to be finalized in the coming months.

29 4 月, 2026
287 nominations for Nobel Peace Prize — institute

OSLO, Norway — The Norwegian Nobel Institute made a key announcement Thursday, confirming that a total of 287 candidates have been put forward for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. Of these nominees, 208 are individual activists, leaders, and advocates, while 79 are formal organizations working across the globe to advance peace. Per longstanding institutional rules, the full list of nominees remains unpublished, with names sealed for 50 years to protect candidates and preserve the integrity of the selection process.

While this year’s total nomination count falls short of the all-time record of 376 set in 2016, institute officials framed the figure as consistently high, a reflection of the widespread global movement to recognize peacebuilding work. “In an increasingly conflictual world, there is no lack of candidates whose principled commitment and innovative action points towards a brighter future,” the institute shared in its official statement announcing the final nomination count.

Under Nobel Foundation statutes, nominator eligibility is restricted to specific groups: sitting national lawmakers and cabinet ministers, former Nobel Peace Prize laureates, sitting members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, university professors of social sciences and history, and leaders of independent peace research institutes. While nominee identities are formally confidential, eligible nominators are permitted to publicly disclose the candidates they have put forward, leading to a steady trickle of confirmed names ahead of the October 9 winner announcement.

Already, publicly disclosed nominees include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Swedish youth climate activist Greta Thunberg, and the International Criminal Court, one of multiple global institutions that have been put forward for the honor. Multiple eligible nominators have also confirmed they have put forward former U.S. President Donald Trump, who mounted a high-profile campaign for the 2024 prize, claiming his administration had made unprecedented efforts to end eight ongoing global conflicts.

Trump was overlooked for the 2024 award, which went to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, and he publicly expressed his frustration over the snub. In a surprising turn, Machado dedicated her award to Trump and formally presented him with her physical prize medal in January 2025. The Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize committee later clarified that the physical medal is a symbolic artifact, and the honor of the prize itself remains tied exclusively to the official selected laureate.

Annual Nobel Peace Prize rules require all initial nominations to be submitted by the January 31 deadline. However, the institute confirmed that sitting committee members retain the right to add new candidates to the shortlist during their first post-deadline working meeting, which was held this year on February 26.

29 4 月, 2026
First US-Venezuela flight in years takes off as relations improve

MIAMI, Fla. – After a years-long hiatus marked by bitter bilateral tensions, the first direct commercial flight between the United States and Venezuela departed Miami early Thursday, marking the most visible milestone to date in a rapidly unfolding normalization of relations between the two nations. American Airlines Flight 1236, the first scheduled service between the two countries since 2019, lifted off from Miami International Airport at 10:26 a.m. local time, bound for Caracas’ Simon Bolivar International Airport, commonly called Maiquetia, with an expected flight time of just over three hours. The flight’s passenger list is primarily composed of U.S. diplomatic officials and international journalists, as senior Washington envoys prepare for unprecedented talks with Caracas’ new interim government — a meeting that would have been considered impossible just six months ago. Greeting passengers at the departure gate were Miami city representatives and Venezuela’s ambassador to the United States Felix Plasencia, a fitting welcome for Miami, long a hub for Latin American diaspora communities and a strategic gateway for trade and travel between North and South America. In a nod to the historic occasion, American Airlines has rolled out a custom Venezuelan-inspired in-flight menu for these inaugural flights, featuring regional staples such as cachapas (traditional sweet corn pancakes) and Venezuelan-style chicken salad. The resumption of air links comes amid a sweeping shift in U.S.-Venezuela relations that has unfolded since early January, when U.S. special operations forces conducted a targeted raid in Caracas that removed former leftist president Nicolas Maduro, who was subsequently transported to New York City to face trial on federal drug trafficking charges he and his allies have repeatedly denied. Maduro was replaced by his former vice president Delcy Rodriguez, whose government has moved quickly to court U.S. investment and align with Washington’s policy priorities despite her longstanding leftist ideological background. U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly praised Rodriguez’ policy approach, particularly her administration’s opening of Venezuela’s critical energy and mining sectors to private foreign investment, and has gradually rolled back crippling economic sanctions that isolated Venezuela for years — including dropping personal sanctions targeting Rodriguez directly. Even amid this detente, significant points of tension remain. Trump has simultaneously moved to ramp up deportations of Venezuelan migrants residing in the U.S., terminating a longstanding protected status program that shielded migrants from deportation to a country grappling with widespread violent crime. The aviation industry as a whole is also facing significant headwinds, driven by a sharp spike in global oil prices following recent U.S. and Israeli military strikes on Iran. The resumption of direct air connections fills a critical gap for the roughly 1.2 million Venezuelans who have built lives in the United States, many of whom have been separated from family members for years amid the travel ban. Policy analysts also expect the restored links to open the door for expanded U.S. business activity in Venezuela, which holds the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves. The daily route will be operated by American Airlines’ regional subsidiary Envoy Air, which will run one round-trip service between Miami and Caracas daily. American Airlines has already announced plans to add a second daily round-trip route starting May 21, matching growing demand for travel between the two countries. American Airlines first launched service to Venezuela in 1987, and for decades carried more passengers between the U.S. and Venezuela than any other carrier. The airline suspended all service in 2019, when bilateral relations collapsed after the U.S. and a coalition of Western and Latin American nations refused to recognize Maduro’s re-election, citing widespread voting irregularities. While the U.S. State Department has relaxed its travel guidance for Venezuela — ending a years-long blanket ban on all travel to the country in March — it still urges U.S. citizens to reconsider travel plans due to ongoing high rates of violent crime across the nation.

29 4 月, 2026
Small plane crashes at Air Force Base in Dajabón

On Wednesday, a small civilian aircraft registered N577TU crashed at an Air Force base located in the Dominican Republic’s northern border province of Dajabón, launching an official safety investigation by the country’s top civil aviation and accident probe bodies.

Initial accounts from on-scene authorities confirm that the crash unfolded as the plane was in the final stages of preparation for takeoff from the Dajabón airfield. Immediately after the incident, local aviation officials activated pre-planned aviation safety response protocols to coordinate emergency and investigative actions.

First responder teams and security personnel were among the first to arrive at the crash site, working quickly to secure the perimeter and preserve physical evidence critical to the upcoming probe. The only person on board, the pilot, was evacuated from the site and transferred to a nearby private medical facility for urgent care. As of the latest update, Dominican aviation officials have not publicly disclosed any detailed information about the pilot’s current medical condition, leaving local communities waiting for further updates.

Two lead Dominican agencies—the Aviation Accident Investigation Commission and the Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation—have confirmed that specialized technical evaluation teams were deployed to the crash site within hours of the incident. These teams are tasked with conducting on-site inspections, reviewing flight data, and interviewing first responders to pinpoint the root cause of the crash. Authorities have emphasized that the investigation is still in its early active phase, and no conclusive findings have been reached to date. A formal public announcement with full details of the probe’s results will be released once investigators have completed their comprehensive analysis.

29 4 月, 2026
Haiti celebrates 70 years of Haitian-Japanese diplomatic relations

In a formal ceremony held Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at Port-au-Prince’s Montana Hotel, Haiti’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs gathered senior diplomatic leaders from both Haiti and Japan to commemorate the 70th platinum jubilee of bilateral diplomatic relations between the two nations. The event was attended by Haiti’s Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, Haitian Foreign Minister Raina Forbin, and Kazuhiko Nishiuchi, Japan’s Ambassador to Port-au-Prince, with Haiti’s Ambassador to Japan Louis Harold Joseph joining via remote video address.

Opening official remarks, Prime Minister Fils-Aimé honored the deep, durable foundation of Haitian-Japanese ties, which have been rooted in shared principles of mutual respect and collaborative partnership since the two countries formally reestablished diplomatic relations in 1956. The prime minister reaffirmed the Haitian government’s commitment to expanding ties across political, economic, and cultural domains, calling for greater coordinated action from both nations’ private sectors to develop impactful public-private partnerships that unlock underutilized cooperation opportunities.

Minister Forbin followed, emphasizing the high quality of bilateral collaboration, particularly amid Haiti’s ongoing efforts to restore national security. She stressed that future cooperation should remain centered on inclusive development, technological innovation, and institutional capacity building, urging a more dynamic bilateral agenda that aligns with the legitimate aspirations of both Haitian and Japanese people, while contributing to broader stability across the Caribbean region and the global stage.

In his remote address, Ambassador Joseph framed the seven-decade diplomatic relationship as a model of constructive partnership between two nations separated by vast geographic distance, bound together by consistent mutual respect. He expressed profound gratitude from the Haitian people for Japan’s long-running, unwavering support across key development sectors including public education, healthcare, and national infrastructure. He also called for expanded cultural and economic exchange, noting that the platinum jubilee is not a milestone to cap the relationship, but a starting point for a new chapter of deepened strategic partnership between the two countries. Ambassador Joseph closed by reaffirming Haiti’s commitment to working alongside Japan to advance shared goals of regional and global stability.

Japanese Ambassador Nishiuchi echoed these remarks, reiterating Japan’s steadfast commitment to Haiti and its determination to continue supporting the country’s ongoing stabilization efforts and long-term sustainable development.

Beyond official addresses, the ceremony delivered a tangible step forward in bilateral cooperation: on the event’s sidelines, Minister Forbin and Toshimitsu Motegi, representing Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, signed a new Memorandum of Understanding focused on diplomatic training. According to a statement from Haiti’s Prime Minister’s Office, the agreement formalizes both nations’ shared commitment to strengthening institutional capacity and expanding high-level bilateral dialogue between their diplomatic teams.

29 4 月, 2026
FAO ready to support the development of food supply chains in Haiti

In a high-level working meeting held in Port-au-Prince on April 27, 2026, Haiti’s Minister of Commerce and Industry James Monazard held strategic talks with Pierre Vauthier, the leading representative of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Haiti, to advance cooperation on strengthening the country’s food supply chains and unlock economic potential across high-growth agricultural sectors.

During the discussions, Vauthier articulated FAO’s formal commitment to long-term support for the development of Haiti’s food production and export sectors, singling out the domestic mango industry as a primary area of focus. Haitian mangoes have long been recognized by global trade analysts for their untapped significant export potential that has yet to be fully scaled, making the sector a strategic priority for inclusive growth.

Minister Monazard welcomed FAO’s planned intervention, noting that mango production was once a core driving force of Haiti’s national economy, capable of generating widespread income and trade revenue when supported by targeted infrastructure and policy coordination. Beyond mangoes, Monazard drew attention to two additional high-potential strategic sectors: artisanal and industrial fishing, and cocoa cultivation. Both sectors, he emphasized, hold substantial untapped capacity for increased value addition and widespread job creation across rural Haitian communities that have long faced economic stagnation.

By the end of the talks, the two sides reached a concrete agreement to launch a new cross-institutional joint commission, bringing together Haiti’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry, FAO’s local country office, and Haiti’s Ministry of Agriculture. This coordinating body will align stakeholder efforts to advance the structured, inclusive development of all three priority sectors, eliminating fragmented planning and overlapping initiatives.

Both participants also underlined the critical need to deepen private sector engagement, particularly by centering the input and participation of local entrepreneurs already operating in mango, fishing, and cocoa sectors. This inclusive approach, they agreed, is essential to building a collaborative, environmentally and economically sustainable development model that benefits local communities rather than external stakeholders alone.

During the meeting, several concrete priority intervention areas were formally identified to guide initial work. For the mango sector, key priorities include upgrading national quality control systems, standardizing product labeling, and modernizing packaging infrastructure to meet international export standards. For the fishing sector, plans focus on expanding vocational training programs for small-scale artisanal fishermen and distributing appropriate, sustainable fishing equipment to boost productivity without depleting local fish stocks. For cocoa, the core priority is building local processing capacity to convert raw cocoa beans into high-value derivative products such as premium chocolate, dramatically increasing the domestic added value of Haitian cocoa exports rather than shipping unprocessed raw materials abroad.

Formalization of a official collaborative framework for these initiatives will get underway in the coming weeks, with the first working sessions of the joint commission expected to convene by early summer. The meeting concluded in a warm, cordial atmosphere, with both parties expressing shared satisfaction with the progress made and reaffirming their commitment to continuing detailed negotiations to move these development initiatives forward, ultimately supporting broad-based, inclusive economic growth across Haiti.

29 4 月, 2026
GWP-C Regional Coordinator presents impactful contributions of GEF CReW+

From April 21 to 24, 2026, the closing event for the GEF CReW+ project took place in Panama City, drawing stakeholders from across the Caribbean, Latin America and beyond to assess years of collective work on sustainable wastewater management and map the path forward. At the event, Dr. Roxanne Graham-Victor, Regional Coordinator for the Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C), took the stage during a session focused on strengthening regional frameworks for sustainable wastewater management, moderated by Leverne Walker, Programme Management Officer for Marine Pollution at the Cartagena Convention Secretariat. During her presentation, she detailed the organization’s multifaceted contributions to advancing Integrated Water and Wastewater Management (IWWM) across the Caribbean and expanding into broader Latin American regions.

Dr. Graham-Victor emphasized that progress in wastewater management extends far beyond constructing physical infrastructure. Under the GEF CReW+ initiative, GWP-C’s work has centered on three core pillars: capacity-building and national-level support, innovation and on-the-ground project development, and public outreach and knowledge sharing. All these pillars work together to create lasting, systemic change, she explained.

On the capacity-building front, GWP-C has delivered targeted regional training and engaged directly with national stakeholders to boost local wastewater planning expertise. A standout example was a 2022 regional workshop focused on Shit Flow Diagrams (SFDs), a hands-on planning tool that visualizes the flow of wastewater and human waste through urban systems. The training gathered 28 water and sanitation practitioners from 13 Caribbean countries and territories, equipping them to develop SFDs and integrate the tool into city-wide sanitation strategies. For policymakers and local leaders, SFDs provide clear, actionable insight into where gaps exist in wastewater services, treatment and disposal, helping guide more effective resource allocation and policy design.

The second core pillar of GWP-C’s work under the initiative has been nurturing innovation and building a pipeline of implementable projects, turning abstract dialogue about water sustainability into tangible action. Key initiatives included the Young Caribbean Water Entrepreneurs Shark Tank competition, open calls for locally driven IWWM project proposals, and direct implementation support for selected grantees. To date, GWP-C has funded projects across Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia and Panama, marking the first time the partnership has supported on-the-ground water management work in Central and South America – a major milestone for expanding cross-regional impact.

Thirdly, GWP-C prioritized expanding public understanding of wastewater and sanitation challenges through targeted knowledge products and communications campaigns. Recognizing that these issues have long been confined to technical circles, the organization developed a range of accessible, audience-focused content: youth-created social media videos under the #WastewaterMatters campaign, evidence-based perspective papers, a regional video series breaking down IWWM principles, and specialized workshops for young leaders and journalists. These efforts have successfully brought wastewater and sanitation into broader public discourse, encouraging cross-stakeholder dialogue and building public support for reform.

Reflecting on the initiative’s outcomes, Dr. Graham-Victor outlined key lessons for the region going forward. The project has clearly demonstrated that cross-regional collaboration is a powerful driver of technical progress and can turn innovative ideas into implemented solutions, she noted. However, it also highlighted a critical need: to embed long-term gains in stronger national-level governance and systems, to ensure progress outlives individual, time-bound projects.

The GEF CReW+ closing event brought together national governments, regional bodies and implementing partners from across the Caribbean and Latin America to celebrate collective achievements and identify opportunities to continue advancing sustainable wastewater management in the region. For GWP-C, the event represented a valuable opportunity to share its lessons learned and reaffirm its commitment to building a stronger, more resilient regional foundation for integrated water and wastewater management. This article was distributed via NOW Grenada, which notes it is not responsible for the views expressed by contributing authors.

28 4 月, 2026