Jamaican Diaspora Commended for Support to Country

Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Hon. Arnaldo Brown, has commended members of the Jamaican Diaspora for their consistent support and commitment to the country, having contributed US$2 billion in remittances to the economy over the last two years.

“This amount constitutes the largest source of foreign exchange earnings outside of tourism and almost the size of the country’s Net International Reserve (NIR).  Therefore, in the context of our economic advancement and development as a country, we have to engage the Jamaican community that resides outside,” the Minister of State told JIS News.

Addressing the second day of the inaugural conference on Business and Management, staged by the Mona School of Business at the Holiday Inn Sun Spree Resort in Montego Bay, on January 8, Mr. Brown said that, “we have to find a way to get this community to become engaged in national development through investments and trade in areas, such as the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE), among others.”

He cited an announcement by the General Manager of the JSE, Marlene Street-Forrest, that the organization would be launching its online trading platform in April, with the aim of increasing its trading volume across the Diaspora.

“This announcement indicated that Jamaicans in Canada can now get tax breaks from investing on the Jamaica Stock Exchange come April 1, and this is a major development. Therefore, we are saying that Jamaicans at home and overseas need to partner with each other to realize Vision 2030,” Mr. Brown urged.

The State Minister, who has responsibility for Jamaican Diaspora Affairs, also informed that it is the intention of the government to develop a more cohesive, targeted approach to engaging young people in the Diaspora, through the Diaspora Policy.

“This policy is in recognition of the fact that the interests and concerns of the younger generation differ from those of second generation Jamaicans,” he added.

“When I engage members of the Diaspora in their respective areas, they are highly interested in the development of Jamaica.  They are interested in investing in Jamaica and they are interested in health care issues, social services, safety and security affairs. We have therefore launched, and are currently working on the Jamaica Diaspora Mapping Project, which is creating a data base of Jamaicans across the globe, who are interested in the development of the country,” he noted.

The conference was held under the theme: ‘Breaking the barriers: enterprise, competitiveness, growth and development’.