Minister Grange Expresses Jamaica’s Sadness and Outrage Following Terrorist Attacks in India

The Honourable Olivia “Babsy” Grange, Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, has expressed Jamaica’s sadness and outrage following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India.
Minister Grange told His Excellency, Mohinder Singh Grover, Indian High Commissioner to Jamaica, during a courtesy call today that, “Jamaica stands solidly behind India and is committed to working with all countries to eradicate the demon of terrorism.”
She said that a united effort must be made to fight terrorism in all countries as no country is immune from terrorist attacks.
The Minister asked that Jamaica’s sympathy and regret be expressed to the people of Mumbai, particularly those affected by the terrorist attacks.
High Commissioner Singh Grover, in thanking Minister Grange for the expression of support, said that the feeling of the Indian Government was that the attacks, military in style, were orchestrated by enemies of India from outside of the country.
On other matters, Minister Grange and High Commissioner Singh Grover agreed that Jamaica and India should build even further on the long history of good relations shared by the two countries. The High Commissioner suggested that there could be further cooperation in the areas of culture, sports, academics and journalism.
It was noted that among the variety of ways that India is already assisting Jamaica is in the establishment of an ICT centre located at Excelsior Community College. This involves the provision of 50 computers; four administrators and programme materials. The centre will start operations early next year.
Jamaica also receives from India training offers that cover various areas of the public sector, including agriculture, human resource management, information technology and security and defence. In the meantime, a Memorandum of Understanding which will be concluded shortly is for cooperation in the development of small scale industries in Jamaica.
Minister Grange is also requesting that India considers assisting the Youth Business Thrust, an activity falling under the National Centre for Youth Development (NCYD), which is seeking to create a pool of funds from which grants would be made available to young people wishing to start their own businesses.
She is also seeking similar assistance for a programme to be run by the Bureau of Women’s Affairs to benefit young women in particular.
Minister Grange pointed out that elements of Indian culture played an important part in the mix that represents Jamaican culture and the High Commissioner, who has just completed three months of his tour of duty in Jamaica, accepted her invitation to attend with her such cultural events. She also reminded the High Commissioner that Jamaica and India celebrate their Independence anniversaries only six days apart.