The Government will be awarding 10 scholarships to students from the People’s Republic of China to study locally at the Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMI). This was disclosed by Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, while opening the debate on the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) Bill 2017, at today’s (February 24) sitting of the Senate. The...

When Jamaican film director, Perry Henzell, hired Jimmy Cliff in 1972 to play the lead role in the movie ‘The Harder They Come’, few people would have wagered on it becoming the classic it is today. For a start, there had never been a featured Jamaican full-length film before, and nobody knew what to expect from the combination of a...

The Jamaica Institute of Financial Services (JIFS) is marking its 40th anniversary this year under the theme ‘Renew, Refocus, Reposition’. The body, initially known as the Jamaica Institute of Bankers (JIOB), was formed on February 24, 1977. It seeks to promote the continued growth of the financial services sector through training, social exchange and research. The JIFS operates under the...

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. J.C. Hutchinson, says farmers must be commended for their resilience and unwavering commitment to the agricultural sector. Addressing the Braco Production and Marketing Cooperative Society in Trelawny on February 22, Mr. Hutchinson said that agriculture has improved significantly over the past several months and local farmers have...

A national emergency communication network is to be established to strengthen early warning systems for disasters at the local level. This has been disclosed by Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Hon. Desmond McKenzie, who said this will be undertaken in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Director, Urban and Regional Planning, Ministry of Local Government and...

Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says he will meet with representatives from Airbnb in April to advance a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the entity and the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) in December last year. The Minister made the disclosure during a tour of the community of Trench Town in Kingston on February 23. The MOU seeks to establish...

More than $131 million has been allocated to the Jamaica Banana Accompanying Measures (JBAMS) project to combat poverty and improve earnings in banana-dependent areas. Details are contained in the 2017/18 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives. The project, which is slated to run from October 2013 to September 2017, aims to improve the productivity and resilience of...