ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – Antigua and Barbuda is to table a proposal Friday urging regional governments to support an initiative to reduce significantly reduce the taxes for air travel in a bid to encourage intra-regional travel as the threat from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic declines.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Finance Minister Colm Imbert says the state-owned Caribbean Airlines (CAL), which earlier this week announced that it would be retrenching up to 450 employees, would need at least TT$110 million (One TT dollar=US$0.16 cents) to meet severance payments.

• American Express will provide a $40 million investment to Accion Opportunity Fund, representing the nonprofit’s largest investment to date. • Loans from Accion Opportunity Fund* offer much needed capital to historically underfunded small business owners, including people of color, women and immigrants.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – The chief executive officer of the cash-strapped state-owned airline, Garvin Medera, Monday said that new measures being implemented by Caribbean Airlines (CAL) to reverse its decline in revenue and job losses will not affect the quality of service, safety and customer care.

KINGSTON, Jamaica – International Monetary Fund (IMF) Caribbean member countries could benefit from as much as US$2.4 billion in additional liquidity support, under the entity’s newly proposed US$650-billion Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocation.

West Palm Beach, Florida – Alicia M. Williams, founder and president of Training Source One has earned one of the training industry’s highest distinctions; an Accredited Provider as a nationally certified Training Professional under the International Association of Education and Training (IACET).

KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Jamaica government says it is moving ahead with plans to implement the national five-year Global Digital Services Strategy, aimed at increasing the sector’s employment to 70,000 jobs by 2025.

CASTRIES, St. Lucia –The Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has acknowledged that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will have a great impact on the economies of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

ROSEAU, Dominica –Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit is predicting that an international airport will become a reality for Dominica by 2025 as he inked an agreement with the Canadian-based Montreal Management Consultants Establishment Limited (MMCE) on Wednesday night.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – The Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) has launched an online risk management course aimed at improving the skills and competencies of regional tourism industry stakeholders.

NASSAU, Bahamas – The Bahamas government says it is conducting an assessment of the impact of the proposals announced by the Group of Seven (G7) rich nations of a landmark deal that could help countries collect more taxes from big companies and enable governments to impose levies on United States tech giants such as Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – President Irfaan Ali says the overall development of the country will be dependent on critical investments that help to provide the necessary pathway to secure a positive future for all Guyanese.