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Prime Minister of Grenada, Dr. The Rt. Hon Keith Mitchell, has invited the Indian business community to visit the Caribbean for ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 with the dual purpose of enjoying the matches and exploring business opportunities.

The Chairman of the CARICOM Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Cricket offered this invitation while addressing the India launch for ICC CWC 2007 in New Delhi, India, last Thursday night (July 27, 2006).

Dr. Mitchell noted that hosting the prestigious tournament had been an impetus for the Caribbean to enhance skills and capabilities in a number of areas.

“The exercise of hosting a global event will not only help in the integration of our region but it will also result in improvement of our human capital, particularly skills like management, leadership, goal-setting, team-building, teamwork, decision-making, planning and implementation.

“With this in mind, the time is ripe for strengthening of the business relationships between India and the Caribbean,” he stated.

Declaring that the Caribbean was “more than sea and sand”, Dr. Mitchell observed that there are mutual benefits to be derived from more partnerships between the Caribbean and India. He noted that Caribbean business could learn from Indian companies which have made great strides in the global economy in areas such as information technology, film and manufacturing while India could benefit from some of the region’s advantages.

“The Caribbean offers a stable political environment for investment, a well-educated workforce, many marketing opportunities in the region and proximity to major markets in North, South and Central America to name just a few of our advantages,” continued the Grenadian leader.

He also addressed the importance of ICC CWC 2007 to the region’s tourism and assured his Indian audience that they would not only see cricket in modern, well-appointed stadia, but that they would be captivated by the beauty of the Caribbean and the warm hospitality of its people.

“I believe that in the future, even after you have forgotten the results of the cricket matches, you will still remember and treasure your unique Caribbean experience.”

Dr. Mitchell assured the 130 media personnel and the many other business persons and cricket officials present that as a result of the special legislation and other measures being taken for the event, Indian nationals would need only one visa to enter any of the nine Host Venues during the time that ICC CWC 2007 is held.

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Northamptonshire County Cricket Club and their Director of Cricket, Kepler Wessels have today agreed to part company. Kepler joined the County in 2003 and in his first season with the Club got promotion to division 1 of the County Championship and the National Cricket League.

In the years following the Club has been forced to tighten its belt and reduce the size of the budget available for squad development. Despite this difficulty the team has maintained its Division 1 status in the National Cricket League and has figured prominently in the Twenty20 Cup.

However 2006 has been a difficult season with poor Cheltenham & Gloucester performances and Northamptonshire are currently lying in last place in the County Championship. Understandably a poor run of results had led to frustrations for the Director of Cricket, the dressing room and the Club and inevitably tensions run high in these situations. Kepler feels that he has now taken the Club as far as he thinks possible and has had conversation with the club recently. It is with this background that we have amicably parted company at this time.

The timing is important to allow planning for next season to take place in terms of any replacement for Kepler and to consider the make up of the playing squad.

We would like to place on record our thanks to Kepler for his efforts and successes he has achieved over the past four years. We wish him every success in the future.

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