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Jamaica has come in for commendation from the World Trade Organization (WTO) for initiatives to improve the macro-economic environment and to address crime and corruption, even while members have highlighted areas where improvements must be made. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Hon. Dr. Kenneth Baugh, said that coming out of the WTO Trade Policy Review (TPR), held last...

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Dr. Kenneth Baugh, on Wednesday reported on Jamaica’s Third World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Trade Policy Review (TPR) exercise, at a press conference held at the Ministry’s Dominica Drive Offices. Under the TPR Mechanism, small, developing countries like Jamaica are reviewed every six years to; in essence, analyze the country’s...

The deadline for submission of applications in the dance, music, speech, drama and traditional folk forms of the 2011 Festival of the Performing Arts and Children’s Gospel Song Competitions, has been extended to Friday, February 11. Programme Director at the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), Dorrett Thaxter, said the date has been extended to allow more persons to enter the...

The Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), will roll out a series of workshops and consultations next month, to discuss a national strategy for making the youth an integral part of the planning and implementation of all Government policies and programmes. The move is in keeping with the concept  of  "youth mainstreaming"...

Minister of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Pearnel Charles is encouraging employers to make use of the National Skills Bank to identify skilled job seekers within the country. “The skills bank (provides) a list of skills that are available throughout the country parish by parish, category by category. Through this National Skills Bank, demand or shortages in various job categories...

Jamaica to host the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism investment conference in May this year. This premier event focuses on the boundless opportunities for tourism related investments in the Caribbean, in hotels, attractions and the supply of goods and services. Prime Minister Bruce Golding made the disclosure January 16 when he officially declared open the two day Caribbean marketplace ceremony and...

RISE Life Management Services Limited is looking to expand its programmes to assist more at-risk youth and to extend its reach outside of the corporate area. “Because our focus is the at-risk youth and their family members, we would like to provide an opportunity for more and more young people, who are not able to get jobs on their own...

The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) is assuring Jamaicans that the information they will be required to provide for the 2011 Population and Housing Census will be kept in the strictest confidence. “We are bound by the Statistics Act to keep the information confidential and in the final analysis, no information is divulged on any individual. That is not the...

The Ministry of Education has received some 10,000 copies of the popular version of 'Vision 2030 Jamaica - National Development Plan', from the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ). The booklets, which were handed over to the Minister of Education, Hon. Andrew Holness, at the Ministry on January 4, would be distributed to public schools islandwide. Making the presentation, Director General...

The Ministry of Tourism and the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) have signed a US$15 million contract for the establishment of a community-based tourism policy. The policy, which is being implemented under the Rural Economic Development Initiative (REDI) project, is funded by the World Bank and the Government of Jamaica through a US$15 million loan being invested over six years....

The country made progress in a number of key areas in 2010, as the Government remained focused on meeting the targets of Vision 2030 Jamaica, the national development plan. Vision 2030 Jamaica, including the Medium Term Socio-Economic Policy Framework (MTF) 2009-2012, which were tabled by Prime Minister the Hon. Bruce Golding in the House of Representatives in May 2009, provides...

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Dr. Christopher Tufton, has charged Jamaican youths to use technology to develop themselves, their communities and the country. He said that, increasingly Jamaicans are being empowered to do greater and better things, based on the development that emerges from research and technology. "We, as Jamaicans, cannot allow the technology to pass us," he urged...