It was hard for me to leave Jamaica. I had such a great time, I met a lot of great people, even met a nice girl J! I got her email address so we can stay in touch and perhaps see each other again some time. But anyway, now here I am in Havana, Cuba. Everything looks a little bit the same like in Jamaica. The people look similar, they speak the same language, But still Cuba has a lot to offer.
If you think of Havana you think of cigars. The most popular cigar from Havana is the Cohiba. Its an exclusive cigar that was initially made for Fidel Castro and other high officials of the Cuban government. Its uniqueness comes from the extra fermentation process. What people dont know is that Cuba was also known for its sugar production in the late 50s. Cuba once was the largest sugar supplier in the world. 80% percent of the export consisted of sugar in the 60s. Cuba had a contract with the Soviet-Union which said that they could sell their sugar above the market price. After the fall of the Soviet-Union in 1991, the sugar export of Cuba also dropped. We can say that Cuba is a country that lived and still lives for the export. Once sugar was very important (during the Cold War), later Cohiba cigars. But besides these two products, Cuba also exports other products. Rum, nickel & salsa music are also wanted by countries like Canada, China, Holland and Venezuela. Because of the fact that cigars are one of the most important export products, I went to visit the factory of Cohiba in Havana. I must say it was very interesting to see how they are made. First of all they select the finest tabacco in the area. When they have selected their tabacco, it undergoes a number of unknown processes to get more flavour. Eventually the cigars are rolled on their laps!
Im enjoying my first Cohiba now and I must say, the taste is unbelievable See you at my last destination, Mexico!
Hello
everyone!
We almost reached our final destination. But before we will discover the great
country Mexico, we stop first at the beautiful country Cuba.
We were
really looking forward to its culture and apart way of living. Before we
arrived at this country, I wanted to know what the current situation is. Thats
why Ive searched for an article about the economy of Cuba.
Raul
Castro, the president of Cuba, has done some large-scale market reforms to
revive the struggling economy. Next to that he also wants that the role of the
state reduces in some areas. In that way workers are allowed to be
self-employed or to set up a small business.
Earlier this year, Castro already launched a scheme under which hairdressers
are allowed to work for themselves. This scheme will now also be launched in
more areas in Havana.
He also
warned that unproductive or under-employed workers in the state sector should
look for another job. In that way he wants to stop the rumour that Cuba is the
only country in the world where you can live without working. He also wants to
reject the reports that he is planning a reform based on capitalist recipes.
Economy
minister, Marino Murillo, said that while the state would reduce his role in
small business, it would continue to get a centralised economy. They want to
reach an economic model in which socialist economic priorities will be the most
important, and not the market.
A reform is really necessary, since the economy has been gripped by a severe
crisis the past two years. Thats also the reason they were forced to cut their
imports.
I think
those reforms are very important for a country as Cuba. But those little
reforms are just a small thing of the whole package. The main problem is still
that they are a communistic country. In that way its very difficult to do some
reforms that also will have a good impact for the people.
In my
opinion they have to go slowly to a more capitalistic economy, otherwise there
will still be a crisis for years. But as weve read in the article, isnt
Castro planning on launching capitalistic ideas.
I also dont think its our task to help that country. The only thing we can do
is advise them things. Its their choice if they want to follow our advice or
deny it.
We have to
stay positive. I think its already good that Mister Castro is planning on
doing some reforms that are good for his country. For example the fact that
people will be allowed to set up a small business. In that way the commerce can
reborn and that will also be the start of a new economy.
May be due
to this condition Castro will admit that capitalism isnt so bad after all.
This was my
blog for this week! Next week we welcome you to our final destination, the
fantastic Mexico!
Were now
in the República de Cuba! All
we did until now was simply visiting the touristic areas of the cities. But
today, we did something different! We went to a primary school, where we could
maybe help out a little bit.
We arrived at the school and we were immediately in love with all the
children. They have to wear a uniform, but they look all very cute in it! Some
of them were dressed in red and others in blue, but this depends of their age.
Every year has a different colour.
We were there only 5 minutes, when a very sociable principal welcomed
us at his school. He gave us a guided tour around the school and told us
everything about the revolution of the education in Cuba.
Earlier everybody in Cuba
was illiterate. There were no schools, so it was impossible for the kids to
learn how to read and write. Even if there would have been schools, nobody
would send their kids to it. Most of the kids work at home and the people dont
have enough money to pay a school fee.
But suddenly, the government started up a revolution for education in Cuba. They made
a lot of schools, all with very good teachers and all the kids could go to
those school FOR FREE! They also made sure that the kids can combine school
with their work at home. I think this is just amazing. In Belgium and other
Western countries you have to pay a lot to go to school. Because of these high
school fees, poor children cant enjoy a good education.
The schools in Cuba are very well organised, so we couldnt help at
all. Seeing all the kids so happy because they could learn and enjoy a proper
education, made us smile as well. And this made sure that we enjoyed our time
at the school.
After a
long trip of 20 hours from Greece
to Jamaica, we finally
arrived some days ago in Kingston!
Luckily this time without any problems, so also without losing my luggage! The
flight was very long, but we all slept the whole time. We were exhausted! Travelling
is always really hard, so we could use some hours to sleep.
When we were
discovering the city, we met a Belgian woman who has been living for 20 years
in Jamaica now. The first thing she asked was about our political situation.
She read something on the internet about us not having a government and thought
that it was just too crazy. She told us about the political situation in
Jamaica, which is really different when you compare it with the system we use
in Belgium, but it is really successful!
The
strangest thing is that Jamaica
doesnt have a king/queen or president itself. Although they are an independent
state, their queen is the queen of England. She is represented in Jamaica by a
governor general, Patrick Allen. She has the executive power, but this is
mostly executed by the cabinet, which is led by the Prime Minister, Bruce
Golding.
Bruce
Golding is a part of the Jamaican Labour Party, one of two major political
parties. The other party is the Peoples National Party.
The Queen
doesnt have the political power, this lies with the Parliament. The Parliament
gets elected every 5 years and exists of a House of elected members who
represent 60 constituencies and a Senate of 21 members. The senate cant be
elected by the people, they get chosen by the Prime Minister and the Leader of
the Opposition.
While she
was telling all of this, she gave us a city tour around Kingston. So after today, we did not only
know a lot about the politics, we also saw the most beautiful places of
Kingston.
Ill be
back next week to tell you all our adventures in CUBA!
We have left Greece behind us and crossed the Atlantic
Ocean, to reach or next destination Jamaica. We wanted to visit Jamaica for its
beautiful beaches, lush green forests, misty mountains and stunning shoreline.
But next to that, there are some other public attractions, why we wanted to
visit Jamaica.
First of all we have the Dunns River Falls. The thing
that makes the Dunns River Falls so special is that you can climb on the
waterfalls. Together with a guide we have forced the waterfall and went to the
top of Dunns River Falls. Lucky for us we had a guide, because there a lot of
slippery place who could cause falling of the waterfall. We also filmed some
very nice shots that we will upload as soon as possible. When we arrived to the
top we had an amazing view over the Dunns River Falls.
Later on we have visited the Dolphins cove. This is an
amazing place in the marine park where can relax and swim with a family of
bottleneck dolphins. The animals were pushing our feet with their noses, or you
had the possibility to grab their fins and hang on for a crazy ride.
What we have especially have seen in Jamaica is the
large variety of water sports. This is because Jamaica has one of the most beautiful
beaches in the world. On the beaches you can find clubs, which offer jet skiing
to para-sailing and snorkeling lessons.
Jamaica is a very nice country to visit and I think we
will back in the future.
After a 16-hour flight across the Atlantic Ocean with Air Jamaica I must admit that I am fed up. I took the plane from Athens to Brussels, refueled there and flew then straight to Kingston the Capital of Jamaica. Then I still needed to take the train and the bus to eventually get to my final destination ( Port Antonio). Because of the fact that I used all of the transportation systems here in Jamaica I will tell you something more about it in this blog post.
The transport infrastructure in Jamaica consists out of roadways, railways and airways. Transportation on the water is also used but not much, its only used for tourism. About the roadways, I can tell you that it consists of 13 049 miles (around 21,000 kilometers). Only 9321 miles out of the total is paved. Which means that there is still a quite large amount of dirt roads. Freeways didnt exist in Jamaica, but thanks to some investors, the government eventually built freeways that connected the main population centers of the island. Due to this investment, roadways became the primary means of transport.
Railways in Jamaica arent very popular anymore. A lot of the railways were closed to build roads on. It is estimated that only 53 kilometers of the once 272 kilometer long railway is still used today.
About the air transport in Jamaica I can only tell you that there are3 airports. One in Kingston ( the capital of Jamaica), one in Boscobel and one in Montego Bay.
So if you are planning to come to Jamaica, know that Jamaica has three means of transportation. The best way to get to Jamaica in the first place is by plane. You can take the boat but then it will be a 6-day boat trip instead of a 16-hour flight from Europe. And for people like me who get sea sick, I dont think it would be a pleasant journey. Once you are in Jamaica you can to choose to take the bus, rent a car or to take the train. If you have enough money, I think it would be useful if you rent a car. Then you are free to go everywhere you want to. In my case I couldnt rent a car so I was forced to take the bus and train. But Ill have to leave you all now, the sun is shining, the music is playing, the drinks are calling me so Im going to partyyyyyyyy !
After we
visited Iran, Turkey and Greece, its now Jamaicas turn.
Before we
travelled to that country, we wanted to find out how save it is there. I
already heard Jamaica had a lot of problems with criminality in the past.
Thats why I did some research and found some articles about it.
I found out
that Jamaica hardly can control the crime in his capital city Kingston. The
biggest problem are the gangs, one of them is Fatherless. Its a group of armed
young men, who have lost their fathers in gang wars. Only last year, five
members of the gang have lost their lives in gang wars.
Death became so common in these parts of Jamaica, that the inhabitants arent
surprised anymore when there is a new victim.
Jamaica has
the highest murder rates in the world. There have been already 300 murders this
year, thats just harrowing. The problem is that Jamaica finds himself in a
never-ending spiral of gun crime. Its a vicious cycle of killing on both
sides; policemen kill criminals and also the other way around.
Things are
already going so far, that recently schools closed down after rising gang
violence in the area. The number of students attending schools has dropped by
40%. The CIA reports that crime in Jamaica is not new, due to the economic
conditions in the 1970s, there was already a rise of the violence. The cycle of
violence, drugs and poverty has served to impoverish large sectors on the
populace.
Next to
that, Jamaica has been a transhipment port for Colombian cocaine. They smuggle
the cocaine into the islands and sell it. Then drug smugglers from Haiti trade
sophisticated guns for marijuana and cocaine. The consequences of these
practises are unbelievable; unemployment, teenage pregnancy and nearly every
household is involved in some kind of criminal activity.
Young
people fight in gang wars, older men travel to the city to rob and steal, and
the women at home often take a break to carry drugs to the US and UK.
There is a
high crime in Jamaica, but it is in the crime hotspots, and not in whole the
country like everyone thinks. The hotspots are areas like Kingston, St Andrews
and Trench Town, its a mix of inner cities and high unemployment
neighbourhoods where young gangs high on crack cocaine and armed with guns to
kill.
Analysts
say Jamaicas culture of crime is a larger, social problem and will take more
than police action to solve. Improving the economy, decreasing unemployment and
cleaning up politics will be the first step to stop the criminality.
I think
Jamaica has huge problems that already drag for years. The main problem isnt
the criminality, but the poverty of the people. Thats why people start to
steal and deal drugs. So the first thing that has to change is the economy and
of course the political situation. You cant have a wealthy country without a
stable political situation. Next to that Jamaica also has to create jobs, so
the unemployment can decrease. This is a job for the government. They can
decide to do some infrastructural reforms. For example building new houses, new
bridges in that way they can employ people and its also good for the economy
of the country. Jamaica will come in a positive vicious cycle and things will
become better. One thing is for sure, it cant go on like the situation is
today.
If everyone
realizes this and they want something changes, it wont be a big problem. But
the government has to take the first step. We can also help Jamaica by giving
good advice and stimulate them to do some investments. But I dont think its
good idea to support them by giving them money. They have to do it by
themselves, or they will have the same problem in about 5 years.
We arent
scared to go to Jamaica, even if we know that there is a lot of criminality. We
will just avoid the criminal hotspots for our own good.
That was my
blog for this week, again a country full of secrets! I hope you stay all tuned and I see you next
week back in Jamaica!
Its a new week, so that means: a new destination, a new adventure, a new
source, a whole new story!
This week we are staying in Greece, a beautiful and ancient country with a lot
of secrets to discover. This week Ive chosen for a little movie instead of an
article. I think images say more than words, so in my opinion a movie was
necessary in a country with such a history.
Everybody
knows Greece is having a hard time, last year they had a lot of difficulties in
their economy, and this year its still not better. Last week the government
took some measures, such as downgrading the credit rating for another time to
get the Greek economy back on track. Investors fear that Greece will have
difficulties to repay his debts to the EU and IMF. Moodys even compares Greece
to countries such as Bolivia and Belarus. But Greece did definitely some effort;
they reformed their pension and tax system. Moodys says that these efforts
didnt have the necessary results. Greeces debts are still a 152, 6 % of the
GDP, and they dont expect it will decrease till next year. Its obvious that
Greece cant solve his problems alone; they need the EU and the IMF. But before
the EU invests more money, they want that Greece pass a test of solvent. Next
to that, the EU will also meet in Brussels to find solutions for the debt
crisis. By finding these solutions, they want to occur that the crisis doesnt
spread to countries such as Portugal and Spain.
A specialist gives his opinion and solutions for the crisis. He doesnt agree
with the opinion of Moodys. He believes that EU should set up a fund to help
Greece, but he thinks its manageable. Even Greece, Spain and Ireland together
are only 16% of the GDP, so Greece alone may not be a problem.
I agree
with the fact that the EU should help Greece. Im convinced that they cant do
it alone, their debts are just too high and I dont see a fast way for Greece
to try to repay them. I think the EU is obligated to help them. Greece is a
member of the EU, so they need our support and also our money. Its actually a
win win situation. When Belgium will ever have financial problems, the EU will
also help us. Were partners, so we should not only take the advantages of
that. But I also think Greece should spend the money wise. This money should
help Greece to repay their debts and to help reviving their economy. They may
not waste it to stupid things. There should be definitely some conditions. When
Greece doesnt obey them, I think the EU has the right to stop investing money
in the country.
But I think
we are all hoping that Greece can come up with a good solution. This country is
way too beautiful to be a crisis!
So that was
it for this week! Next week we are already in our new destination. But Ill
keep it a secret till then!
Im in Turkey now, more specific in the city that once was the capital city of the Ottomanian empire, namely Istanbul. Turkey and especially Istanbul is known for its historical background. Ancient buildings are still standing on the land of the Marmaran-region.
Enough said about the beauty of Istanbul. Now, Im going to tell you something about the economy of the city. Istanbul has been the center ofthe countrys economic life. The reason for that is because the city is surrounded by water, so a lot of international sea trade routespass the city. In other meanings, the city lives from the export and import. It has been estimated that the import and export of Istanbul are respectively 56%and 60.5% of Turkeys total import and export. The main products that are exported are raw materials and energy resources.
But it hasnt always been that great for Turkey. In the late nineties the Asian financial crisis affected the economy of Istanbul. The crisis caused that the export dropped tremendously, knowing that export is very important for Istanbul you can believe it was a real setback. Then Istanbul also had to deal with a major earthquake. This triggered one of the largest economic shocks in history for the city. Due to the earthquake the GDP ( Gross Domestic Product ) dropped two percent. Despite all these setbacks Istanbul is now again a city with a healthy economy.
We can conclude that Istanbul has known a lot of setbacks during the nineties , but luckily the economy of the city has been able to recover itself. Istanbul now has become a very known place around the world. The city became very modern, young people now also book trips to Istanbul to enjoy its night life. It is considered to be outstanding. So Im very lucky to be here now, I sure will put it to the test . I hope Illbe able to make you all jealous!
Before I forget! If there are people that already have been to Greece, could they please send me a personal message telling me the sites I really need to visit in Athens because I have never been there before and I really want to see all the beauty of the city!
Hope you enjoyed my blogpost! Ill speak to you all again when Im in Athens!
Some days
ago we found out everything about the delicious olives here in Greece,
but Olivier already told you all about this. And not only the olives are
delicious, also everything else we already tasted here! There are a lot of
small restaurants who have fish meals as their specialty, so especially the
fish dishes are unbelievably good!. This is off course not abnormal for a
country where a huge percentage of the economy is depended on fishing.
Today in
Crete, an island of Greece, we attended a local fisher on his ship to see how
the fishing in Greece works. This local fisher told us everything about fishing,
but also about some of the huge problems that they face every day. The main
problem is that there arent a lot of fish anymore in the sea, so the catches
are a lot smaller. This is due to overfishing, a problem lots of countries face.
The second
problem is something we never heard about, named fishing with dynamite. We
were so surprised and interested that it seemed like we were really
enthusiastic about it, but of course we werent! The fisherman was a little
confused by our reactions, because this kind of fishing is really cruel and
totally illegal! He thought that we were also dynamite fishers, although he
already knew that we were just tourists. After explaining him that we were just
tourists and never heard about this practice, he explained us everything.
Dynamite fishing or blast fishing is the practice of using dynamites to kill a
school of fishes. Its really dangerous and forbidden by the law of omerta(=
silence) here in Crete! Dynamite fishing is
mostly practiced by poor fishermen who dont have enough financial sources to
buy a boat, but also people who like adventure try this out.
After an
interesting and relaxing boat trip, the fisherman brought us back to Crete
where wed met him earlier today.
This week we have travelled from Turkey to Greece where we wanted to
learn more about the harvesting, production and the export of olives.
When we travelled
true Greece we have visited a local olive mill where the olives are washed to
remove the leaves, and are crushed to produce the liquid, which is extracted
from the olives.
The farmer
told us that there were two methods for the extraction of the olives. The first method is a traditional where
the pits are very important. In this method the pits are helping to channel the
oil when the paste is pressed. This process has duration for about half an
hour. After the pressing the paste is spread evenly over woven mats and go
under a second press, who separates the paste from the oil. There are just a few
more farmers here, who use this traditional method. This is because mainly
there are higher costs involved.
The second
and the most used method is the extraction based on a centrifuge. Here are the
olives crushed by several crushers who separate the flesh and oil.
Each year
Greece produces between the 300-and 400 thousand tonnes of oil and 75% of the
production is done by the second method.
They are
transporting their oil all over the world, but most particular to Italy who
buys three quarters of the total amount of the Greek olive oil transport.
I hope you
enjoyed reading this blog, and you have learned more about the Greek oil
industry. I am looking forward to post new updates of my trip, and give you interesting
facts.
I left Istanbul a few days ago, and now I am in Athens, the capital of Greece . Currently the weather here is very bad, it has been raining all day long. I was forced to stay inside so I thought it was a good idea to keep you all posted.
Greece is like Istanbul, a city which is known for its cultural and historical background. But especially, we know Greece because of the Greek Mythology. Everybody knows about the stories of Achilles, Hercules, Aphrodite etc.
Besides all this beauty, Greece also has a dark side. Today Greece has a lot of debts it cannot pay off. The cause of the debt crisis are the so called hedge funds and other "speculators" because the institutions bailed out with public funds. Because of the crisis, the Greek government requested on April 13th 2010 to the EU and IMF for bail-out money. The estimated amount of money needed to bail-out was 50 billion. But the problem now is that the government isnt able to pay the interest that comes with the loan.
I think the biggest problem now is that Greece is a member state of the EU. So if other countries or investors lose their confidence in the Greek economy, the Greek economy will affect the value of the Euro and will on its turn affect the economy of Europe. That would be catastrophic for all the EU member states!
We can determine that Greece is in a lot of trouble today. Since the crisis started already many Greeks got unemployed because a lot of companies went bankrupt or closed their department. We need to solve this problem together with Greece!
Im in Turkey now, more specific in the city that once was the capital city of the Ottomanian empire, namely Istanbul. Turkey and especially Istanbul is known for its historical background. Ancient buildings are still standing on the land of the Marmaran-region.
Enough said about the beauty of Istanbul. Now, Im going to tell you something about the economy of the city. Istanbul has been the center ofthe countrys economic life. The reason for that is because the city is surrounded by water, so a lot of international sea trade routespass the city. In other meanings, the city lives from the export and import. It has been estimated that the import and export of Istanbul are respectively 56%and 60.5% of Turkeys total import and export. The main products that are exported are raw materials and energy resources.
But it hasnt always been that great for Turkey. In the late nineties the Asian financial crisis affected the economy of Istanbul. The crisis caused that the export dropped tremendously, knowing that export is very important for Istanbul you can believe it was a real setback. Then Istanbul also had to deal with a major earthquake. This triggered one of the largest economic shocks in history for the city. Due to the earthquake the GDP ( Gross Domestic Product ) dropped two percent. Despite all these setbacks Istanbul is now again a city with a healthy economy.
We can conclude that Istanbul has known a lot of setbacks during the nineties , but luckily the economy of the city has been able to recover itself. Istanbul now has become a very known place around the world. The city became very modern, young people now also book trips to Istanbul to enjoy its night life. It is considered to be outstanding. So Im very lucky to be here now, I sure will put it to the test . I hope Illbe able to make you all jealous!
Before I forget! If there are people that already have been to Greece, could they please send me a personal message telling me the sites I really need to visit in Athens because I have never been there before and I really want to see all the beauty of the city!
Hope you enjoyed my blogpost! Ill speak to you all again when Im in Athens!
The trip
from Iran to Turkey didnt go as planned. In the airport of Budapest,
we had to wait for 5 hours, because they forgot my luggage. I must confess that
I was really afraid that I wouldnt see my luggage ever again, but luckily my
luggage was brought in with the next plain from Iran. We forgot this small
problem immediately when we relaxed a day at the beautiful beach of Turkey!
Olivier
already told you about our visit to the beautiful capital of Turkey, Istanbul.
Everything he told you all is totally true! This city is really amazing, no
wonder that there were so many tourists.
But the
presence of so many tourists isnt only due to the beautiful old buildings and
the nice weather, its also because of the great marketing Turkey uses to
promote its country. Every year Turkey
makes a new movie about the best things in their country and broadcasts this in
different countries. I am sure everybody of you already saw one?
Some local
habitants told us that since they started to promote Turkey with promotional
videos there are a lot more visitors in the old cities of Turkey. A lot of
people didnt know before that Turkey also has a lot of beautiful old
buildings. The main idea everybody had of Turkey is that there were just
all-inclusive hotels with nice swimming pools everywhere.
In our
hotel we watched such a promotional video again, because some of us didnt see
one yet. The atmosphere that they create in the videos is just the same as the
atmosphere you feel when you are walking around in the touristic areas of Turkey.
I think
its really amazing that Turkey
broadcasts these promotion videos all over the world. A lot of people live from
the tourism, so without that they dont have revenue and it wouldnt be
possible for them to buy food and clothes. Its also true what they show in
those movies. Turkey
is so beautiful, so its really worth a visit.
Im glad we
stopped in Turkey, so that
we could see all the amazing buildings in Istanbul.
In a couple days its time to move on and travel further to Greece.
I hope you
enjoyed our blog until now! Ill be back next week!
Im pleased to see that there is a lot of interaction on our blog and that
every one is interested in the developments of our journey. Today you will find
an update of our trip from Iran to Mexico.
The second country
we have visited was Turkey, an amazing country with a bright scale of historic
influences. The capital of Turkey Istanbul has recently won a price, and they
can call themselves the European capital of culture. So we wanted to find out
ourselves, if its true that Istanbul is so beautiful as they describe.
Istanbul is
one of the places you definitely have to visit. Istanbul is famous for its
sprawling palaces and bazaars, and its spectacular location overlooking the
waters of the Golden Horn. Another point is that the tourists are very welcome.
So you have all the ingredients for an unforgettable vacation.
This city
has been the capital of two great empires, first as Constantinople and later as
the current Istanbul. This Islamic world has been the gateway between the
western and the eastern culture. Now some of the typical Islamic mosques are
transformed to a museum and the tourists are able to visit them.
I think
that Istanbul is the most beautiful city of Turkey because of its culture. When
you want to visit Istanbul you know you will see the authentic buildings of the
Islamic culture. But that is not the only thing that makes Istanbul famous. We
also have the western influences, and it is the combination of those two things
that makes Istanbul the European capital of culture.
I hope you
enjoyed reading this blog, and still want to follow us on trip to Mexico. You will
be hearing from us soon, with a new adventure in the next visited country.
Were
arrived at our next destination during our trip from Iran to Mexico. Our next
stop is the beautiful country Turkey! I really wanted to visit this country,
because of the beautiful culture and all their facilities.
I was also very curious about the economic situation. Is Turkey really such a
bad member for the EU? And is the EU right to not accept Turkeys ask for
membership? What will happen with Turkey if they become a member of the EU?
I really wanted to find out. Thats why Ive searched for an article about this
subject.
The negotiations between Turkey and the European Union already began in
2005. Today there is still no agreement about the entry of Turkey, mostly
because of the opposition and controversy from other members of the EU.
Nevertheless Turkey has all the necessary political and economic reforms to be
a member of the EU. The fact that Turkey isnt accepted as a member of the EU,
would be due to his Muslim factor, geographical position, population size,
violation of human rights,
There also would be a huge advantage for all the members of the EU, the market
would grow by 72 million customers with an average purchasing power. Next to
that Turkey is situated in the Middle East, and is respected as a fair
facilitator of conflict resolution by both sides in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
A membership for Turkey would encourage this role. This would also be good for
our relationships with the central Asia region.
Another advantage for the EU, is that Turkey since 1995 participates in the EU
internal market for goods. Turkey has also a great potential in labour force,
which will continue to grow, particularly after a possible EU membership. We
dont see this in eastern and central countries of the EU, there the labour
force growth seems to be shrinking, which is very positive for Turkey. When we
accept Turkey as a member, our labour force will also get a boost. On the other
hand, the agricultural sector is inefficient. Similar to the eastern and
central countries of the EU, Turkey uses one third of its labour force for
agriculture.
Another
problem is, that the Turkish society still practises things that undermine
female dignity, arranged marriages, crimes of honour, But there has been some progress the last
years, although there are still human rights violations.
In the article they conclude that the destabilisation of the credibility of the
EU at home and abroad is a possible failure for the Turkish negotiations.
I find it
very difficult to say whether Turkey would be a good addition to the members of
the EU or not. There a lot of advantages, but Turkey also has a lot of problems
which we cant ignore.
I think the biggest advantage is that Turkey has relations with us, Europe, and
with Asia. I think its very important to have a good relation with those
countries in the future. Turkey would be a perfect help with this.
One of the biggest
disadvantages is that Turkey doesnt seem to follow the human rights. I guess
Turkey must realize that this is a very important point. Before they keep that
in mind, they will never become a member of the EU.
But the situation
seems to be very good in the big cities in Turkey. I didnt mention anything of
violations against human rights. Its more a problem of little cities and
villages I think.
That was
everything for this week! I hope you enjoyed my blog and Im looking forward to
the next destination!
We are
still in Iran and were having the time of our life. We just discovered today that there are a lot of subway lines under Tehran. So who thought that Iran is
just a poor country where you had to do everything on foot is totally wrong!
Well, I have to admit at the start of this adventure we probably all had that
thought
Today we were
looking for a way to go to another place in Tehran. They told us it was only a
2 hour walk. Thats a little bit too far, so we needed to find another way to
get there. What we didnt know, is that there is a very modern metro line in
this city. There are 7 different lines, so you can get practically everywhere
in the city. First we were a little bit afraid that it wouldnt be nice to travel
with, but it is just amazing! Its so clean in there! Sometimes we even thought
it was nicer to travel with the metro here than in Belgium.
You dont
believe us right? We thought about that and took a picture for you!
And thats
not even all of the public transport; Iran has also his own plain company, Iran
Air and railways to other big cities.
Sadly
enough, these subways are only in the big cities, so its just the same as in
Belgium. I think it would be more fun if there were subways everywhere, so that
people can leave their car home more often.
Travelling
with the subway also helps you to get to know a lot of people. Weve met
Afsoon, a girl who lives in Tehran, in the subway. The moment she saw we were
tourists, she guided us through the city. We saw a lot of places we wouldnt normally
see if she hadnt brought us there.
Ill send a
message again next week to tell you about our further adventures! See you!
First of
all I would like to welcome you on my blog. In the next six week I will be
traveling from Iran to Mexico. I will make several stops in different
countries, and this great and exciting adventure I would like to share with
you. Every time when I move on to another country, I will give you a short
review of my stay in the visited country.
The first
country I have visited is Iran.
During my stay in Iran I have met someone who told me a lot about the Iran's
energy industry. And I would like to share this information with you.
The
engineer told me what the outlook for Irans energy industry is very dark. The
National Oil Companys employees had a pay cut and lost 30% of their income. Many
of the oil company's employees are members of the paramilitary Bassij, so they
dont protest about their new wages and when some others protest, it isnt useful
because the paramilitary forces are defending Bassij.
They are
thinking that it would be ripe for a start of larger strikes, and with this
strikes they cripple the Iranian regime.
I think
that the employees are to loyal to their bosses and organizations. They dont
have an union who stands in for the employees and negotiate with the organizations.
When everyone would stretch together the employees wouldnt have got a pay cut,
and the companies would stand under pressure.
This was my
first blog report from Iran. Thank you for reading and following my blog,
now I will be traveling to the next country on my way to Mexico.
Hello
everyone
Im at the beginning of probably the biggest adventure in my whole life. Ill
make a trip from Iran to Mexico with several stops between those two countries.
Thats why
I decided to make a blog. Ill keep you up-to-date by posting a new part of my
adventure every week. This week Im staying in a cute youth hostel in the
capital of Iran, Teheran.
Before I travelled to Iran, I wanted some
information about the country. I wanted to know some of its identity and its habits. So I started to look for some information, when I found an article
about an interesting subject. The article goes about the game market in Iran.
Its a subject that I didnt expect from that country. When I think of Iran, I
think more of war, problems, So I was
very surprised to get to know Iran in a differentway.
For the first time in history, Iran was present
at gamescom in Cologne. Iran was there to showcase the latest games developed
in Iran, establish contacts, and to see if Western retailers would stock their
games.
Mr Tarbyatjoui says that this event was only to promote what is happening in
the Iranian games industry. He believes Iran has more potential and they want
to promote that. This is due to the fact that Iran has its own unique mythology
that has rarely been used in video games.
The group said that the event in Cologne had been a success and they would be
back next year, that will be at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles. They will be at E3
next year, but there will not be a dedicated Iran stand such as you see in
Cologne.
I was very surprised by finding an article from
Iran about this subject. But I think its a good way to promote Iran again, and
make the country more popular again. These days, people dont like Iran anymore.
They are even afraid of travelling to it, because its very dangerous there.
And since gaming is very popular today, its a very good way to promote the
country in a good way.
I also think they should be there next year. Everybody knows Iran and the USA
dont have a good relationship. It would be a perfect opportunity to get to
know each other in another way.
So this will be all for this week. Next week, I'll be reporting from another country, which I'll keep as a surprise till then.
I hope you found it interesting, and I'll hear you all next week !
I always wanted to go on a big journey to see the beauty of the world. Thats the reason why I planned the following journey from Iran to Mexico, making stops in different countries and villages along my trip ( IranèTurkeyèGreeceèJamaicaèCubaèMexico). By using this blog I want you all to be part of my incredible journey. Ill keep you all posted with pictures and lots of information from each country Ill be visiting.
This is my first dayat the capital city of Iran,Teheran.Already Im able to tell you guys something about this city. Today I red a newspaper article saying Teheran is the smokiest of all capitals. Apparently Teheran is a very polluting city. The power stations, cement factories and thousands of over-polluting cars made sure Teheran won the world record in air pollution.In the past the Alborz massif winds kept the city providing healthier air with more oxygen in it. But since Teheran is air still, a large thick brown haze has covered the sprawling city ( see picture). Because ofthe smog, already 3,600 people died in the past months. Especially old people and asthmatics suffered a lot.
Teheran needs to change its environmental policy ! The air pollution there is like 5 times bigger than in our cities. First of all, the government of Iran could lay restrictions on the emission of power stations or petrol stations that are settled in Teheran and the surrounding cities and villages. Closing these companies will mean a lot of unemployment, so that isnt an option for a nearly third world country like Iran. On the other hand they also need to lay restrictions on the emission of the cars that are driving there. Cars driving there, pollute 3 times more than cars driving in our countries. This restriction isnt that important as the others but everything will help Teheran to be a cleaner city.
We, Western countries can also help Iran (Teheran). We can sent engineers to these polluting factories so they can help them to be more ecological. This can be supported with money we get from certain foundations.
This was myblog post from Iran ( Teheran ) within a few days Ill take the plane to Istanbul, Turkey. Speak to you later!
