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The registration and licensing requirements for institutions, which provide pension services, will form the basis of discussions on the Pensions (Superannuation Funds and Retirement Schemes) Bill, 2003, at the Jamaica Conference Centre on Friday, January 30. Tabled in Parliament in December 2003, the Bill seeks to provide the legislative and regulatory framework to govern pension systems in Jamaica. There is...

Director General of the Maritime Authority of Jamaica (MAJ), Rear Admiral Peter Brady has been elected to chair the International Maritime Organization (IMO) sub-committee on Standards of Training and Watchkeeping (STW). The STW is the rulemaking body for the International Convention on the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW Convention). The group held its conference at the IMO headquarters...

Jamalco has awarded some 35 employees for their long service to the organisation from 10 to 35 years.The 'Milestone' Awards ceremony was held on Thursday (Jan. 29) at the Jamalco Great House in Halse Hall, Clarendon. Addressing the ceremony, Rhena Gregory, Human Resources and Industrial Relations Administrator at Jamalco, said that her company wanted to show appreciation to its employees...

Seventy-two customs officials, four of whom have given more than 40 years of dedicated and honest service to the Customs Department were recognised on Thursday (Jan. 29) at a ceremony at King's House. Chief among the awardees was BT Davis, who joined the department 57 years ago, in March 1944. According to his citation, Mr. Davis never missed a day...

Calling the fight against poverty "the most critical task" facing the hemisphere, Jamaica's Ambassador to the United States, Seymour Mullings, has reiterated Jamaica's intent to keep the issue "at the very forefront of the agenda" of the Organization of American States (OAS). He declared that the increasing cooperation among member states to stem the "corrosive impact of extreme poverty," would...

Minister of Industry and Tourism, Aloun Ndombet-Assamba, is predicting growth of between 3.5 and 7 per cent for South Coast tourism in the next 10 years. One of the main areas of focus in the government's Ten-Year Master Plan is the sustainable development on the island's south coast. "Based on the performance of other nature-based destinations in the Caribbean that...

The Land Titles Division of the National Land Agency (NLA) is projecting that the public should start seeing the benefits of the Land Registration System by April with significant improvement in turnaround time by June. The improvement will come by way of the Land Registration System (LRS), which will transform the largely manual process at the Office of Titles to...

Government's move to protect brand Jamaica has been advanced with Parliament passing the Geographical Indication (GI) Law on January 14. The law gives recognition and protection to Jamaica as a brand, ensuring that persons do not misleadingly pass off their products as originating from the island. Commerce, Science and Technology Minister, Phillip Paulwell, commenting recently on the passing of the...

Remittances in excess of US$36 million have accrued to the Jamaican economy over the last three years, through the Jamaica-United States (US) Overseas Employment Programme, now in its 60th year. The programme, which is administered by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, now accounts for more than 8,000 farm workers, many of whom have been upgraded from ordinary workers...

Grenadian Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell has said that global changes had demonstrated that science and technology and innovation has become central to improving the economic performance of the region as well as the social well being of its people. Dr. Mitchell was delivering the keynote address at the University of the West Indies' 'Research Day' activities at the Mona...

Minister of Land and Environment, Dean Peart has recommended that appropriate mechanisms be developed at the global and regional levels to strengthen and sustain partnerships, which will ultimately aid Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in achieving sustainable development. Speaking at an inter-regional meeting called to identify key strategies to improve the implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action (BPOA), on...

Her brother was transformed from a laid-back young man to a motivated and disciplined individual. It was this dramatic turn-around in her sibling Gary, that inspired Donnaree McKenzie to enrol in the National Youth Service (NYS) training camp. Now, after attending a rigorous four-week NYS training camp in early childhood education, Donnaree says she has seen a vast improvement in...