Author: SKNISEditor

Bird Rock, Basseterre, St.Kitts (Tuesday 08thDecember 2020): The St. Christopher Air & Sea Ports Authority (SCASPA) in collaboration with the St Kitts Customs and Excise Department (CED) has implemented new covid-19 safety cargo clearance procedures to facilitate the quick release of cargo specifically for the December 2020 peak season. An integral part of the New Covid-19 Cargo Clearance procedure is its Cargo Examination/management; to reduce contact with the general public and ensure the continuity of the operation, all personal cargo will now be pre-examined and assessed by both SCASPA and CED prior to the Customers’ arrival to clear them. Cargo…

A maritime single window will be established in the Eastern Caribbean in the upcoming months says Director of the Projects Department at the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Daniel Best. His announcement came at the launch of the Establishment of Integrated Border Systems in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Project on Wednesday, November 25, 2020 at CDB headquarters. The project will create a maritime single window solution, which will consolidate existing systems for advanced passenger and cargo information and other complementary structures into a single portal accessible to the various agencies involved in border control operations.Best stated that “customs authorities in beneficiary…

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, December 10, 2020 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – The Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis took a huge leap towards a greener and a more energy efficient future with the groundbreaking of the Basseterre Solar & Storage Project that will result in the buildout of a 35.7 megawatt solar farm and battery storage facility. Thesymbolic groundbreaking ceremony on the $70-million project was held at Needsmust on Thursday, December 10, 2020. Themicrogrid project is being built by Leclanché SA, a Switzerland-based energy storage company with over one hundred years of experience. ChiefExecutive Officer of…

Basseterre, St. Kitts, December 10, 2020 (SKNIS): Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Hazel Laws, said that the robust protocols instituted to protect against the community spread of COVID-19 have proven quite successful for St. Kitts and Nevis. The twin-island Federation has recorded seven imported cases of COVID-19 since the borders reopened to regional and international traffic on October 31, 2020. However, there has been no evidence of any local person contracting the disease after interacting with the passengers. “Once we would have identified a case, we do contact tracing,” CMO Laws said during the December 09, 2020 edition of the National Emergency Operations Centre…

Basseterre, St. Kitts, December 10, 2020 (SKNIS): The official ground-breaking ceremony of the Basseterre Valley Solar and Storage Project for a 35-megawatt solar energy plant and the 45 megawatt-hour battery storage facility, was witnessed on Thursday, December 10, making the establishment of the largest solar plant in the Caribbean one step closer to being realized.The Federal Government, in collaboration with The St. Kitts Electricity Company Limited (SKELEC), signed an agreement with Leclanché SA – one of the world’s leading energy storage companies based in Switzerland – in September 2019 to construct the largest solar generation and energy storage project in the Caribbean.Chief Executive Officer of…

Basseterre, St. Kitts, December 10, 2020 (SKNIS): The construction of the largest solar farm in the Caribbean, which is expected to be completed within 12-18 months in St. Kitts and Nevis, forms part of the Government’s sustainable development agenda to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emission and signals the country’s commitment to renewable energy. Speaking at the official ground-breaking ceremony of the Basseterre Valley Solar and Storage Project on Thursday, December 10, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Infrastructure, Utilities et al., the Honourable Shawn Richards, dubbed the event a “significant milestone” in St. Kitts and Nevis’ journey to…

Basseterre, St. Kitts, December 10, 2020 (SKNIS): St. Kitts and Nevis’ Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Hazel Laws, announced that the federation has confirmed another imported case of COVID-19. This takes the total number of recorded cases to 26.However, 23 of the cases have officially recovered with zero deaths.On December 09, 2020, at the COVID-19 Briefing by the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC), Dr. Laws revealed that the 26th confirmed case landed in the Federation on November 25, from the United States of America. The individual was quarantined in Nevis and is now in isolation.Officials anticipated and extensively prepared for a rise in…

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, December 10, 2020 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis, in collaboration with the St. Kitts Electricity Company (SKELEC) and Leclanché SA, broke ground today (Thursday, December 10) for the construction of a $70-million solar generation and energy storage facility as part of the Basseterre Solar and Storage Project. LeclanchéSA is a Switzerland-based company that provides high-quality energy storage solutions based on lithium-ion cell technology. PrimeMinister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris participated in Thursday’s groundbreaking ceremony at Needsmust, where he stated that this project forms part of his…

Statement by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem on Human Rights Day 10 December 2020 Realizing human rights, equal and inalienable for every person, is the most just and meaningful goal of any society. Human rights are universal principles, yet as Eleanor Roosevelt once reminded us, they begin in “small places, close to home…. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere.” All around us is stark evidence of how failing to realize human rights in small places multiplies on a global scale. We knew that was happening long before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the virus has placed…

Basseterre, St. Kitts, December 10, 2020 (Ministry of Foreign Affairs): The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is pleased to celebrate another daughter of the soil as she embarks on her journey to fulfill educational dreams. Miss Kayla Weekes, a Junior Clerk in the National Assembly of Saint Kitts and Nevis, is the proud recipient of an academic scholarship from the Government of Azerbaijan to pursue undergraduate studies at the ADA University. Miss Weekes’s award marks a significant milestone in the young relationship between Saint Kitts and Nevis and Azerbaijan, as the year 2020 is the first time a scholarship package has been awarded…