The world is looking to China these days for many reasons. As one of the oldest civilizations in the world, with a population of more than 1.3 billion (the Han group making up 91.02% of the population and 55 other ethnicities making up 8.98%), a stunning global trade surplus, a growth rate that just won't seem to slow down, and the expansion of its entrepreneurial people to all corners of the globe, China obviously has many things to teach the world.

Trinidad and Tobago has benefited from the presence of the Chinese for 201 years, and while their numbers here are small (around 11,000), their influence in almost every sphere of life, cannot be underestimated...more

While the sister isle is bent on diversifying its economy away from the dominant energy sector, Tobago's special problem is trying to get away from its heavy dependency on tourism. Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA), Orville London, recently told delegates at the islands's first-ever Economic and Business Outlook Conference that Tobago's recent success in tourism is now a major concern for the island. Mr. London cited a recent report which said Tobago had become "one of the most tourism dependent islands in the world," saying this was troubling because tourism was a volatile mistress who could be generous at times but could also be very fickle...more