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The Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMI) will be rolling out its Master of Science degree and distance education programmes early next year, as the Institute seeks to reinvent itself and plot a strategic path towards gaining university status by 2010. Executive Director of the Institute, Fritz Pinnock, who was addressing the Institute's graduation and award ceremony held on Thursday (Nov. 22)...

Businessman Joseph Matalon has been appointed chairman of the Advisory Board of the Jamaica Productivity Centre (JPC). This board will be responsible for overseeing the programmes and activities of the JPC. "We are going through great pains to put together an advisory board for the Productivity Centre [as] we are determined to give the Productivity Centre what it needs," said...

Raquel Muir, an 18-year old upper six student at the Mannings High in Savanna-La-Mar, is the 2007 Junior Mayor for the Westmoreland Parish Council. She was selected from among 14 students from educational institutions across the parish, in a keenly contested competition organized by the Parish Council recently, as part of activities to mark Local Government Month in November. Raquel,...

President of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), Senator Norman Grant has highlighted the need for partnerships to implement projects that will increase agricultural production and encourage more youth involvement in the industry. Senator Grant, who was addressing a meeting of the Rotary Club of Mandeville held recently at the Golf View Hotel said: "It would be appropriate to begin a...

The government will be clamping down on illegal foreign workers and the inspection team within the Ministry of Labour and Social Security has been strengthened to deal with the matter. "We have strengthened the inspection team and that team will hit the road very shortly and so people who are in the island without work permits will find themselves in...

Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Christopher Tufton, has said that plans for the divestment of the country's five state-owned sugar factories are advanced, with the new private sector owner to be in place by June or July next year. He informed that so far, a negotiating team has been put in place and "we are in full flight right now preparing...

Veteran broadcaster and actress Leonie Forbes was recently honoured by the Jamaican community in New York for her five decades of professional excellence in broadcasting, theatre and film. At a function held at the Consulate General in New York, Ms. Forbes was presented with a certificate of merit from the Consulate General and a citation from United States Congressman Ed...

The Ministry of Agriculture is moving to implement a farmer-friendly marketing system, which should be in place by year-end. Minister of State, J.C. Hutchinson, who was addressing the annual 4-H Clubs' Career Day at the WINDALCO sports ground in Ewarton, St. Catherine on November 22, said that the system will bring farmers into greater contact with exporters and wholesalers. He...

The Ministry of Health and Environment last week held a two-day strategic planning retreat aimed at examining the mandate of the Ministry and to create greater synergies between the health and environmental portfolios. At the meeting held at the Caymanas Golf and Country Club in St. Catherine, stakeholders discussed strategies to streamline functions and to ensure greater operational efficiency. Chief...

Consul General to Toronto, Anne-Marie Bonner, has commended the Project for the Advancement of Early Childhood Education (PACE) Canada on 20 years of partnership with the Jamaican government for the advancement of the country's early childhood sector. "It is a partnership, which demonstrates how much the public and private sectors, working together can achieve," Ms. Bonner stated as she addressed...

Jamaica will know on (Nov. 23), whether it was successful in the bid for a seat on the Council of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which is currently meeting in London. Transport and Works Minister, Mike Henry, who is heading Jamaica's delegation at the meeting, said it is important that the country is involved at the highest level of the...

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw, has reiterated that a suitable tax reform model is being prepared, which will seek to promote greater levels of compliance in the payment of taxes. Minister Shaw, who was giving the keynote address at the launch of National Productivity Awareness week at the Terra Nova Hotel in Kingston last week, said...