BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — Commissioner of Police, Hilroy Brandy, expressed heartfelt appreciation to the Government and people of St. Kitts and Nevis for supporting him and The Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force over the years.

During his opening statement at his first press conference for 2021, Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, announced that Her Majesty the Queen had graciously considered a recommendation from his cabinet, through His Excellency the Governor General, to award the Commissioner with the Queen’s Police Medal (QPM). This was as a result of his distinguished and meritorious law enforcement service of almost 40 years.

The Prime Minister also disclosed some of the successes from 2020, mentioning that overall crime was down, and that the homicide rate specifically had fallen by some 20 percent, while the detection rate was up about 40 percent.

“Mr. Brandy’s excellent record in law enforcement has finally received the recognition and acclaim of Her Majesty,” said Hon. Dr. Harris. “I’m not sure whether he will be meeting her in person or virtually, but I want to commend him on this significant conferment at this time in his career and, of course, on behalf of all of us at Cabinet. I extend to you, again, Commissioner Brandy, our most sincere congratulations and best wishes.”

In response, when the Commissioner took to the lectern to answer questions directed to him at the press conference, he used the opportunity to say thank you.

“I also would like to say thanks to the people of St. Kitts and Nevis for the support over last year on behalf of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, in terms of our crime reduction and crime detection,” said Commissioner Brady. “We were very successful in 2020. We are looking forward to your continued support in 2021.

“I would also like to take the opportunity to thank the Minister of National Security and the Federal Cabinet, for making the request for the award for my long years of service and my hard work in The Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force,” said Brady. “Once again, I want to thank you very much.”

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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced two scholarship opportunities provided by the Republic of Serbia for 2021. The following are the terms by which interested persons may be granted this scholarship:

1. Applicants must be under the age of 21 years to apply for any bachelor’s programme, under 25 years to apply for any master’s programme and under 35 years to apply for any Doctoral programme.
2. The scholarship will contain free Serbian language preparatory courses online and intensive courses upon arrival in the Republic of Serbia; tuition for all levels of scholarship; 15,000 dinars (Serbian dollars) monthly to cover living expenses; accommodation and food in student centres; compulsory health insurance; and free resident visa.
3. The scholarship will not cover travel expenses to and from Serbia; the cost of city public transport in Serbia; or expenses for textbooks and work materials during studies.

Interested persons should contact the Human Resource Management Department for more on the terms and conditions of this scholarship programme. The deadline for applications to the programme, however, is Friday January 22, 2021.

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CHARLESTOWN, Nevis — Premier Hon. Mark A.G. Brantley, Minister of Finance, Human Resources et al. in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA), has resumed one-on-one consultations with members of the public at his office at Pinney’s, Estate, Nevis.

Premier Brantley began seeing members of the public on Friday, January 15 instead of the usual Thursday consultations. This was the first of his weekly consultations since taking a brief hiatus over the 2020 Christmas season.

Brantley said as Premier, a Cabinet minister in the Nevis Island Administration, and the elected member for St. Johns in the Nevis Island Assembly, making himself available to the Nevisian public is paramount.

“The idea really is to give people as much access as possible to the Premier and for them to have an audience and an ability to speak to me,” said Hon. Brantley. “That is part and parcel of what we’ve tried to do in terms of our good governance agenda; accessibility, ensuring that our people have access to the Premier, the highest office on Nevis; and that persons have the ability to air their grievances, air their concerns, and often times bring their suggestions.

“People come for a variety of reasons,” explained Brantley. “I have some people who simply come to pray for me, some people who come to talk to me and tell me about their children or their grandchildren. It’s not always people coming with a problem. Sometimes people just want an audience and an opportunity. I think in our democracy and how we practice it, that is a very good thing.”

The Premier said on average he would see upward of 20 persons over the course of the day, discussing issues that cut across several ministries.

“For several years, since 2013 when I first entered government, I’ve designated Thursdays as my one-on-one. I meet with anybody who wants to meet. People can come without an appointment and I’m proud to say that I’ve done that over the last seven years.

“Since I became Premier in 2017, I’ve continued that tradition,” said Brantley. “People come in large numbers sometimes to meet with me on a variety of matters; in fact, people have come from as far away as St. Kitts on a regular basis to meet with me on a number of issues. We hear what their concerns are and try our best to resolve them.”

The Premier’s one-on-one consultations will continue every Thursday. Persons needing urgent meetings can schedule an appointment on any week day.

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CHARLESTOWN, Nevis — The Ministry of Human Resources in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) is pleased to announce the call for Brazilian scholarship applications for 2021.

The Organization of American States (OAS), the International Cooperation Group of Brazilian Universities (CGBU), with the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) are offering 350 scholarship opportunities. Persons interested in pursuing studies in master’s or doctoral degree programmes at Brazilian universities are invited to apply. The scholarship benefits are as follows:

Full tuition waiver;
Grant of $1,200 USD;
Partial monthly stipend for living expenses; and
Free Portuguese language support.

The deadline for applications to be submitted to the Ministry of Human Resources is by Friday, January 22, 2021.

For additional scholarship information and application guidelines, kindly visit the links below or contact the following:

https://paec.caeddigital.net/#!/pagina-inicial
https://paec.caeddigital.net/#!/concurso-ingresso

Mrs. Shanola Murrey-Gill or Ms. Ronice Williams
Ministry of Human Resources
Nevis Island Administration
Email: sh****************@****ov.com or ro*************@****ov.com
Tel. No.: 469-5521 Ext. 5163/4

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CHARLESTOWN, Nevis — The Ministry of Human Resources in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) has received the call for the Taiwan MOFA and ICDF Scholarships 2021.

Interested persons are encouraged to exploit the opportunities made available by the Taiwan Government to pursue undergraduate and graduate studies. The Taiwan programmes are diversified in leadership and management development; journalism and mass communication; health care administration; cultural and creative industries; aquaculture technology and management; environment sustainable development; and more.

The scholarship benefits include airfare, housing, tuition fees, insurance, textbooks, and monthly allowances.

General Application Guidelines:

• One must apply to their preferred university as well as to the Taiwan Embassy in St. Kitts. The university will present a permission slip which must be included with the embassy’s application.
• Please NOTE that each applicant can ONLY apply for one programme, either ICDF or MOFA.
• Applicants are advised to complete a medical test after their application has been approved.
• Along with the completed application form, must also be original passport and education certificates as well as two copies of all documents. Copies must be clear (easily read) and precise (no cut-offs).
• Applications for both ICDF and MOFA must be submitted to the Ministry of Human Resources by Monday, February 22, 2021. Other notifications will specify a deadline in March; kindly note these dates are for applications to be received by the Embassy, not Human Resources. Therefore, the Ministry will refuse all applications received after February 22.

For further information on application information, eligibility etc., kindly visit the following links or contact the below listed persons:

ICDF
http://www.icdf.org.tw/ct.asp?xItem=12507&CtNode=30318&mp=2
http://web.icdf.org.tw/ICDF_TSP/WelcomeStart.aspx

MOFA
https://www.mofa.gov.tw/en/cp.aspx?n=A5C28AD214C3FD7C
https://taiwanscholarship.moe.gov.tw/web/scholarship.aspx

Ms Carol Boddie
Ministry of Education
Government of St. Kitts Tel. No.: 467-1484/467-1508

Mrs. Shanola Murrey-Gill
Ms. Ronice Williams
Ministry of Human Resources
Nevis Island Administration
Tel. No.: 469-5521 Ext. 5163/4

Mr. Daniel Kou
Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan)
Taylor’s Range, Basseterre, St. Kitts. Tel. No.: 465-2421

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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — The Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis continues to experience a gradual increase in the number of positive cases of COVID-19.

According to the Chief Medical Office, one additional coronavirus case was found on Saturday, January 16.

The returning national landed in the Federation on January 2, 2021 from the United States of America. The patient has been in quarantine at one of the COVID-19 certified hotels since arrival. The patient was duly notified and is now in isolation.

This additional case brings the total number of COVID-19 confirmed cases to 35 with 23 cases for St. Kitts and 12 cases for Nevis. Please note that 33 cases have fully recovered with zero deaths. There are now two active cases. These patients are stable and are being monitored. The risk of further cases occurring in the Federation remains very high.

A report from the Chief Medical Officer’s says: “We continue to adhere to the ‘St. Kitts & Nevis Health & Travel Protocols’ which can be found at website https://www.knatravelform.kn.

All front-line workers continue to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols along the corridor of containment between the ports of entry and hotel/accommodation sites. The Ministry of Health wishes to assure the general public that the following measures are being taken to restrict the spread of coronavirus:
• In-depth contact tracing to effectively assess the front-line workers with whom the recently diagnosed cases would have interacted; and
• quarantine, monitoring and testing of contacts as indicated.

“The Ministry of Health and the Federal Government assure all citizens and residents that every effort is being made to prevent the spread of this virus locally.

“With reports of the SARS -CoV-2 variant in the region and with increase in cases locally, more and more persons are adhering to the COVID-19 prevention and control measures which include:
• Wearing a face mask when in public places;
• maintaining good hand hygiene;
• maintaining physical distance of at least 6 feet from others when in public places; and
• avoiding crowds and events.

“These control measures work, and we are encouraging everyone to continue.

“Let us work together to maintain and protect the health and wellbeing of the people of the Federation,” the report concluded.

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GENEVA – More than 30 million inoculations for COVID-19 have already been administered in the 47 mostly high-income countries according to the World Health Organization (WHO). But, the global vaccine rollout has exposed glaring inequalities in access to this life-saving tool.

More than 2,800 scientists from 130 countries gathered on Jan. 15 in a virtual forum hosted by the WHO, to identify knowledge gaps and set research priorities for vaccines against COVID-19.

Experts discussed the safety and efficacy of existing vaccines and new candidates, ways to optimize limited supply, and the need for additional safety studies.

“The development and approval of several safe and effective vaccines less than a year after this virus was isolated and sequenced is an astounding scientific accomplishment,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said in his opening remarks. “The approval of the first few vaccines does not mean the job is done. Far from it. More vaccines are in the pipeline, which must be evaluated to ensure we have enough doses to vaccinate everyone.”

They agreed on the need for critical research on administering vaccines in different target populations, as well as on vaccination delivery strategies and schedules. This includes trials, modelling and observational studies, all of which would help to inform policy.

They discussed the impact of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants on the efficacy of vaccines, the impact of vaccines on the transmission of infection, and the need to develop the next generation of vaccine platforms.

“The world needs multiple vaccines that work in different populations to meet global demand and end the covid-19 outbreak. Ideally, those will be single-dose vaccines that do not require a cold chain, could be delivered without a needle and syringe and are amenable to large-scale manufacture,” Mike Levine, Director of the Centre for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland said.

The meeting concluded with an agreement to establish a WHO-hosted platform for global sharing and coordination of emerging vaccine research information on efficacy and safety. The forum would enable scientists to share and discuss unpublished and published data and research protocols to further our collective understanding of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.

“The WHO will regularly convene experts from around the world, promote collaborative research, provide standard protocols and develop a platform for sharing the latest knowledge in the field,” Soumya Swaminathan, WHO Chief Scientist said.

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When cruises begin again, after an absence of almost a decade, Royal Caribbean Cruises has put Trinidad and Tobago back on its itinerary.

Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the Seas will return to the ports of Port of Spain and Scarborough as part of the Southern Caribbean itinerary for the 2021/2022 cruise season.

The world’s second-largest cruise firm’s decision to add this country’s ports to its itinerary follows discussions between the Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts Senator Randall Mitchell; Charles Carvalho, shipping agent; and principals of Royal Caribbean held at the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association’s (FCCA) Conference and Trade Show in November 2018.

“We’re excited our destination is once again on the itinerary of Royal Caribbean International. These itineraries are planned years in advance. Both our islands are beautiful, warm and welcoming with a few undiscovered gems along the way. Now, passengers using Royal Caribbean International will experience them once again, and we will prepare to heavily incorporate our distinct and rich culture in our offerings to distinguish our destination from our Caribbean neighbours,” said Minister Mitchell.

“This development is certainly an encouraging one, and while it remains conditional on the re-opening of our borders and the decision to recommence receiving cruise ships, it shows continued interest in destinations Trinidad and Tobago,” he added.

Globally, cruises have been halted on account of the COVID-19 pandemic and the cruise industry is collectively hopeful and preparing for the restart of cruising, and for the Caribbean-wide re-opening of borders with the concomitant health protocols.

In preparation for the border re-opening, Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts is developing health protocols for the tourism industry, which will be in place when visitors return to the twin-island republic.

Over 91,000 cruise passengers came to Trinidad and Tobago in 2019. That figure reflects an increase over the previous years, except for 2018 during which there was the closure of several regional ports because of the hurricane season.

Prior to COVID-19, the cruise industry was the fastest-growing segment of the worldwide leisure travel market and demand had increased by close to 21 percent in the past five years. According to industry data, cruise passengers are willing to spend more on activities such as beach tours, off-road/scenic tours, or in duty-free shopping on many island nations.

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