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A Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC), involving 12 entities with roles in the application and compliance with International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) mandatory instruments, was signed Tuesday September 6 at the Ministry of Transport and Works. The MOC will provide for co-operation in vessel safety and security; security in port facilities and port areas; protection of the maritime environment from vessel pollution;...

A sum of $174 million, which has been added to the 2011/12 budget, should be enough to complete the 2011 Population and Housing Census this month, as targeted. After STATIN's Director-General, Sonia Jackson, explained that the agency had met a July 31 deadline to complete the field work, but needed to do some “mopping up”, census takers were sent out...

Between January and June this year, major crimes in Jamaica (murder, shooting, rape, carnal abuse, robbery, break-ins and larceny) declined by 12.6 percent, compared to the similar period in 2010. One hundred and eighty nine (189) major crimes per 100,000 Jamaicans were committed over the period, down from 216 per 100,000 over the corresponding period in 2010. The murder rate...

The goal of achieving greater dialogue and consensus around national issues and challenges will take an important step forward on September 20 when leaders across sectors sign the code of conduct that will provide momentum for the Partnership for Transformation (PFT) process. The move comes after three years of monthly meetings at Jamaica House, involving leaders from government, private sector,...

Two roads in Rockfort, East Kingston, reconditioned by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) with $19 million worth of grant funding from the European Union's (EU) Poverty Reduction Programme (Phase 2), were handed over on Tuesday August 23. The upgrading of Rusden and Tiverton roads, covering some 686 square metres, expected to improve entrance and exit to and from areas...

It is a well defined and accepted fact that any true measurement of growth in a country goes beyond the narrow parameters of financial and infrastructure development, and Vision 2030 Jamaica is aiming to do exactly that. Like many other developing countries around the world, Jamaica, and it could be said some developed countries too, has not lived up to...

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Hon. Dr. Kenneth Baugh, has emphasised the need for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to do more to demonstrate the positives that are happening in the region. This, he said, is in response to the public perception that the Community is failing and that there is "an implementation deficit." "Most of this negative perception...

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Jean Dixon, has underscored the importance of having an effective and robust information system that will support the management of health service delivery in Jamaica. Speaking at the opening of a three-day National Health Information System assessment workshop today (July 26) at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston, she argued that, against...

Nearly three quarters of Jamaican youths are logging on to the Internet to find information and to interact with their friends on social networks. This was revealed in the 2010 Jamaica National Youth Survey released in June, which stated that almost 74 per cent of young people between 15 and 24 years reported that they have access to computers, while...

The Government of Spain, through its Agency for International Development Co-operation (AECID), has donated some $11.2 million worth of medical equipment and furniture to the Spanish Town Hospital, in St. Catherine. The donation will go to the hospital’s King of Spain Wing, and include over 250 pieces of equipment, supplies and furniture for the Physiotherapy Department and the Surgical Ward....

Director of the National STI/HIV Programme, Dr. Kevin Harvey, is encouraging regional health institutions to play a pivotal role in ensuring access to healthy foods, while reducing the incidence of non-communicable diseases. “Having regard to the inextricable link between nutrition and non-communicable diseases (NCDs), our regional health institutions must reposition to take advantage of what could be the biggest decade...

Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education, Grace McLean, says the Ministry is putting measures in place to improve the achievement of males, as part of the education transformation thrust. "The scale of underachievement points to the need for systemic changes in the way that education is planned and delivered. The need to raise the achievement of our boys...