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Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has accepted an invitation from the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago and Chairman of CARICOM, the Hon. Patrick Manning, for her to pay an official visit to that country at her earliest convenience. Mrs. Simpson Miller made the disclosure on Wednesday (Apr. 19) during a meeting with CARICOM Secretary General the Hon. Edwin Carrington,...

Work is on schedule at the multi-purpose stadium in Florence Hall, Northern Trelawny, as labourers at the facility have been working assiduously to meet the November 30, 2006 project completion deadline. "We have never been in danger of not finishing on November 30, 2006, but we have always said that we are going to finish ahead of time," Executive Director...

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has stated that the government will be placing greater focus on inner city schools to ensure that they are brought to a standard where parents would not be ashamed to send their children and, where no student is allowed to graduate without learning a skill. She made the comment on Friday (Apr. 21), during separate...

The Agricultural Support Services Project (ASSP), a four-year work programme within the Ministry of Agriculture and Land, has invested some $11.9 million with the Springfield Growers' Association, in Morant Bay, St. Thomas. "This investment is in the form of irrigation systems and a tractor trailer, for the propulsion of the Springfield Growers' Association's productivity," Project Director of the ASSP, Hershell...

Agriculture Minister, Roger Clarke, has said that Jamaica has to date, received more than $29.5 million euros under the European Union (EU) Banana Support Programme. The programme is the local component of the Special Framework of Assistance (SFA) initiative for traditional African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) suppliers of banana, which was introduced by the EU in June 1999, to improve...

Jamaican student athletes taking part in this year's Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, are to benefit from education scholarships from the Jamaica Impact (JAMPACT) organization of New York. The scholarships will be administered through Team Jamaica Bickle (TJB), the volunteer organization that provides for the welfare of athletes from Jamaica and the wider Caribbean at the annual meet. Kamar Samuels,...

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Anthony Hylton, has said that Jamaica must expand trade in goods and services in order to create lasting wealth. "As a small, open and vulnerable economy, trade in both exports and imports is important to Jamaica's economy, therefore, to expand our exports in goods and services, means the creation of more jobs...

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Science and Technology, Phillip Paulwell, has invited local based call centre operators to consider putting in place more sophisticated customer service programmes, to widen their appeal to prospective clients in North America. Speaking today (April 21), at a seminar on productivity gains and call centre based customer service operations, hosted by Compumart at the Hilton Kingston...

Jamaica is expected to generate some US$700 million in long-term revenues from the hosting of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 up to 2012. This figure which represents expected returns from new investments and exports, is in addition to what is to be realized from direct tourism spend and ticket sales. Pat Francis, President of JAMPRO noted that "the hosting...

The Ministry of Agriculture and Land, through its Apiculture Unit, is on a drive to increase honey production by 50,000 gallons by 2008 to augment the 131,000 gallons produced in 2005. As a result, the Ministry has allocated some $35,000 for traps to control the small hive beetle, which is a pest affecting the bee and honey industry. Hugh Smith,...

President of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), Senator Norman Grant, has urged farmers to increase production to take advantage of opportunities provided by the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). Senator Grant, who was speaking at the opening of the St. Mary Agricultural Expo at the James Bond Beach in Oracabessa recently, noted that local farmers could tap into CARICOM's...

The Scientific Research Council (SRC) is now developing ginger as a nutraceutical, in response to growing demand for the product. "A nutraceutical is a bio-active compound, which when included in our diet, promotes wellness and health, by preventing diseases. It does not cure diseases but it prevents them," Product and Development Research Manager, Ann Marie Smith, explained to JIS News....