PANAMA CITY, Panama - The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, has urged Latin America and Caribbean countries to strengthen productive development policies.

BELMOPAN, Belize – The Belize government is considering whether or not it will deploy more soldiers to Haiti after indicating that “there are a few outstanding issues that have to be resolved”  before troops could be sent to there.

GENEVA, Switzerland – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) Tuesday said that more than a million people are now internally displaced in Haiti, where criminal gangs have been seeking to destabilize the country.

UNITED NATIONS – The head of the United Nations Office in Haiti (BINUH), Maria Isabel Salvador, says that Haiti is showing signs of progress on the political front despite serious setbacks in terms of security.

PARAMARIBO, Suriname – The Prime Minister of Barbados,  Mia Mottley, has emphasized the critical role of culture in regional development during her keynote address Wednesday evening at the 16th annual ‘Self Reliance Trefossa Lecture’ here. 

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti – The Government of Barbados has suspended plans to send troops to Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member state Haiti.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – The Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) Monday said it is providing a seven million US dollar grant to Haiti to launch a transformative agricultural project in the country.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – The Guyana government says it is monitoring the situation at the border with Venezuela as it expects a large number of migrants to come from the neighboring South American country in the coming days.

GENEVA - The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, Tuesday reiterated a call for countries not to repatriate Haitians to their homeland as the UN Human Rights Office reported that at least 5,601 people were killed in Haiti last year.

UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says the  humanitarian crisis in Haiti has reached a critical point, with one in eight children now internally displaced due to escalating violence fueled by armed groups who continue to control most of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

WASHINGTON, DC – The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) says projects from four Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries have been selected to harness the potential of sargassum as a resource for various industries.

UNITED NATIONS - St. Kitts-Nevis has assumed the chairmanship of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States (GRULAC) saying it  exemplifies the ambition of the twin-island Federation to contribute meaningfully to the work of the United Nations.