JA and US to Explore Collaboration for Upskilling Workers

Jamaica and the United States will be exploring a partnership aimed at upskilling and reskilling Jamaican workers.

The disclosure was made by Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, during a joint press conference following bilateral talks with United States (US) Secretary of State, Hon. Marco Rubio, at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kingston, on Wednesday (March 26).

“The United States and Jamaica have enjoyed an 80-year relationship in terms of bilateral labour agreements, where we provide short-term skilled and semi-skilled labour in sectors such as agriculture and hospitality,” Dr. Holness said.

He informed that the discussions with Mr. Rubio focused on ways to expand and enhance existing labour agreements, including skilled development partnerships to upskill and reskill Jamaican workers.

Meanwhile, the US Secretary of State welcomed the discussions regarding the upskilling of labour, noting that it is a topic that was not discussed extensively before Wednesday’s bilateral talks with Dr. Holness.

“We seek to go back and find ways that we can partner to create opportunities for skills training, so that if we can attract those companies… whether it’s a logistics centre or manufacturing… to come to Jamaica, there’s a workforce that has been equipped with the skills needed,” he outlined.

Mr. Rubio noted that the United States has its own challenges with skilled labour and that there may be areas for collaboration with Jamaica in this regard.

“This touches on the issue of aid, very controversial in the United States, but it’s one of the reasons why I wanted to come here today because it in many ways highlights exactly what our vision for aid moving forward is. The United States is not getting out of the aid business. We are going to be providing foreign aid. The difference is we want to provide foreign aid in a way that is strategically aligned with our foreign policy priorities and the priorities of our host countries,” he stated.

Mr. Rubio emphasised that, going forward, US aid will be targeted to host governments, through the US embassies in those countries, and not non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

“It (aid) should be geared towards looking for opportunities to increase skills training, looking for opportunities to attract investment in business and trade, and looking, obviously, for opportunities to expand on your own domestic intelligence capabilities,” the US Secretary of State said.

He added that the new set of US programmes for foreign aid will be aligned with the visions of elected leaders in partner countries.