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An enterprise team has been appointed to spearhead the privatisation of the operations at the Port of Kingston. Industry, Investment and Commerce Minister, Hon. Anthony Hylton, made the announcement on Thursday, March 7, at a stakeholders’ consultation with representatives of the Shipping Association of Jamaica (SAJ), at Newport West, Kingston. The Government is moving to put the management of the...

The National Council for Senior Citizens (NCSC) is to continue its series of retirement seminars. This was disclosed by Minister of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Derrick Kellier, during the pre-International Women’s Day celebration on the grounds of the NCSC in Kingston, on Thursday, March 7. He said the seminars seek to address the impact of retirement on social and...

Some 43,384 students are scheduled to sit the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) on Thursday, March 21 and Friday, March 22, in 1,184 centres across the island. The students will be tested on areas of the primary school curriculum, including mathematics, social studies, language arts, science and communication task. Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education, Grace McLean, told...

Local exporters are being urged to ensure that overseas sales representatives are legitimate, before they contract them to market their products abroad. The advice came from JAMPRO’s Western Regional Manager, Conrad Robinson, as he addressed a technical workshop for operators of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), held on Wednesday, March 6, at the Pelican Grill in Montego Bay. He said...

The Universal Service Fund (USF) is reporting collections of more than $9.7 billion as at February 5, 2013. The funds, generated from incoming telephone calls, will be utilised to accelerate the deployment of broadband services islandwide, in keeping with Government’s efforts to enable more Jamaicans to access Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This includes the creation of an ICT platform...

Finance and Planning Minister, Dr. the Hon. Peter Phillips, says the signing of an agreement with public sector unions, has provided a level of certainty in the wage bill, without which there would be no deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He said the IMF is “concerned that there should be little risk of surprises” which would require sharply...

The Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica (BCJ) took its media literacy programme to western Jamaica on Wednesday, March 6, staging the first in a series of three sensitisation and awareness sessions in the region, at the St. James High School in Montego Bay. Some 300 students benefitted from the session, addressed by Assistant Executive Director of the Commission, Karlene Salmon Johnson,...

Two publications by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), which address the issue of climate change, are to be tabled in Parliament shortly by Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change Minister, Hon. Robert Pickersgill. The two documents - ‘2012 State of the Jamaican Climate, Information for Resilience Building’ and ‘2012 State of the Jamaican Climate, Information for Resilience Building, Summary...

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator the Hon. A.J. Nicholson, at today’s (March 7) wreath laying ceremony for the late President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela........ Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Her Excellency Maria Mendoza Ortega, places a wreath at the statue of the Great Liberator, Simón Bolívar, at National Heroes Circle in Kingston. Occasion...

The Ministry of Finance, Planning and the Public Service is to issue a circular outlining the tenets of the agreement signed with public servants to restrain wage increases over the next three years. Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry, with responsibility for Public Service, Hon. Horace Dalley, says the circular will be issued to managers in the various departments and...

As a mark of respect for the life and work of the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, His Excellency Hugo Chavez Frías and notably his contribution to the development of Jamaica, Prime Minister, the Most Honourable Portia Simpson Miller has announced the following: 1) Wreaths will be laid on Thursday afternoon, March 7, at 4 o’clock at the...

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson-Miller, has said that the Government is pursuing a three-pronged approach to national security and the safety of the Jamaican people. She identified the strategies as: institutional improvements; targeting organized crime; and engendering trust. “We have been building the human resource capacity, increasing training, improving skills and the technology available to the police force,”...