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Cleveland Seaforth

LIAT still in talks with Barbados and St. Vincent

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The Court appointed Administrator for the cash-strapped regional airline, LIAT, Cleveland Seaforth, says talks are still ongoing with Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines after the two former shareholder governments of the airline temporarily banned the airline from landing at the airports in the two countries over valid flight approvals.

Seaforth has hinted at the possibility of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) getting involved in a bid to find an amicable solution to the situation.

“The latest is that we continue to have discussions with Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” he said, adding that in addition to the situation, a situation has arisen in Kingstown surrounding the ground handling operations for the airline.

“We actually took back on staff, we trained them but the Airport Authority in St. Vincent wants to do the handling and not LIAT and so we are in dialogue with them and my expectation is that with respect to St. Vincent we should have an answer from the board of directors on Friday,” Seaforth said on the state-owned ABS television.

He said the discussions are continuing with Bridgetown adding “we can’t quite get a response from them as yet.

“However within the last 24 hours or so CARICOM has approached the company to find out what’s the position and asked to be presented with the information which we did give them, both in respect of Barbados and St. Vincent and my understating it is possible that CARICOM may make some intervention to try and resolve the matter,” Seaforth told television viewers.

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Last Saturday LIAT said it was forced to suspend services to the two Caribbean destinations while it awaits the approval from the relevant authorities there.

LIAT said prior to its suspension of services in March, it had been operating to Barbados and St Vincent and the Grenadines “on valid flight approvals, which have not expired,” and Seaforth said that in the case of Barbados “it came as a surprise to us” adding that “we are a bit taken aback by the decision we have a valid permit to fly into Barbados until July 2024.

He said that the Barbados authorities had informed them last week that “we would have to make new arrangements before we could fly into Barbados.

“We don’t necessarily agree with them because we have the permit which allows us to fly into Barbados until July 2024. We dispatched a letter to them late on Friday asking them to reconsider the decision”.

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne, has criticised the decision of the former two shareholder governments of the airline to operate schedule flights into their countries.

“LIAT will succeed, notwithstanding the artificial impediments that these countries are creating,” Browne said on his weekend radio programme in response to the development.

“The irony is, there were no such requirements for other carriers. All of the other airlines that resumed services to those countries, they had no such requirement so the question is why are they discriminating against LIAT.

“LIAT is a regional institution within the OECS and the broader CARICOM and it should be given national treatment; not to be treated as some stepchild, but to be embraced as a regional carrier, and if anything, should be given preference, not to be discriminated against,” Browne added.

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One response to “LIAT still in talks with Barbados and St. Vincent”

  1. In time! CAL is already crying. Frenchie is subsidized by their motherland. The other two are wobberly already.

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

(CONSULTING SERVICES – INDIVIDUAL SELECTION)

 

OECS MSME Guarantee Facility Project

Loan No.: IDA-62670, IDA-62660, IDA-62640, IBRD-88830, IDA-62650

Assignment Title: Senior Operating Officer (SOO)

Reference No. KN-ECPCGC-207852-CS-INDV

 

The Governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have received financing in the amount of US$10 million equivalent from the World Bank towards the cost of establishing a partial credit guarantee scheme, and they intend to apply part of the proceeds to payments for goods, and consulting services to be procured under this project. 

The consultant will serve as the “Senior Operating Officer (SOO)” for the ECPCGC and should possess extensive knowledge of MSME lending with some direct experience lending to Micro, small and medium-sized businesses, knowledge of the internal control processes necessary for a lending operation and the ability to design and implement risk mitigation procedures. The ideal candidate should possess an Undergraduate Degree from a reputable college or university, preferably in Business, Accounting, Banking or related field, with a minimum of 5 years’ experience in lending, inclusive of MSME lending. The initial employment period will be for two years on a contractual basis. Renewal of the contract will be subject to a performance evaluation at the end of the contractual period. The assignment is expected to begin on September 30th, 2021.  The consultant will report directly to the Chief Executive Officer of the ECPCGC.

The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment can be viewed by following the attached link below. 

 

https://bit.ly/3iVannm

 

The Eastern Caribbean Partial Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECPCGC) now invites eligible “Consultants” to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have:

  • An Undergraduate Degree from a reputable college or university, preferably in Business, Finance, Banking or related field; and
  • Minimum of 5 years’ experience in MSME lending. Applicants should also have:
  • The ability to design and implement risk management procedures 
  • Extensive knowledge of MSME lending with some direct experience lending to small and medium-sized businesses
  • Extensive knowledge of MSME banking operations
  • Knowledge of the internal controls necessary for a lending operation and the ability to design and implement risk management procedures
  • Experience developing and presenting information in public, including responding to questions in real-time
  • Experience lending to MSMEs located in the ECCU
  • Knowledge of marketing and communicating with the MSME sector
  • Ability to draft procedures to be used in a lending operation
  • Familiarity with the mechanics of a loan guarantee program
  • Exceptional written, oral, interpersonal, and presentation skills, and
  • Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office suite.

The attention of interested Individual Consultants is drawn to Section III, Paragraphs 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers July 2016, [revised November 2017] (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest. A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Approved Selection Method for Individual Consultants set out in the clause 7.34 of the World Bank Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers. 

 

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours 0800 to 1700 hours:

Eastern Caribbean Partial Credit Guarantee Corporation

Brid Rock, Basseterre,

St. Kitts.

Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form by e-mail by August 11th, 2021, to [email protected]

 

For further information, please contact:

Carmen Gomez-Trigg                                                            Bernard Thomas

Chief Executive Officer                                                          Chief Financial Officer

Tel: 868-620-8144                                                                  Tel: 869-765-2385

Email: [email protected]                                          [email protected]