PM Golding Meets With US Congressman and IDB on First Visit to Washington D.C.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding arrived in the US Capital, Washington DC this morning (Sept 29) following a weeklong hectic schedule to New York during which he delivered his first address to the United Nations General Assembly.
His first assignment in Washington DC saw him attending a luncheon meeting with US Congressman, Eliot Engel who serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee and the International Relations Sub- Committee on Western hemisphere. Both men held discussions on a number of issues and possible areas of co-operation between Jamaica and the US. Prime Minister Golding was accompanied by Jamaica’s Ambassador to the US, H.E. Anthony Johnson and the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Mrs. Patricia Sinclair-McCalla.
Mr Golding’s next stop was a high-level meeting with the President of the Inter_American Development Bank, Mt Luis Alberto Moreno and other IDB officials. Prime Minister Golding’s talks centred on identifying funding for infrastructural damages caused by the recent passage of Tropical Storm Gustav. Also representing the government of Jamaica at the IDB talks were Ambassador Johnson, the CEO of the Planning Institute of Jamaica, Dr Wesley Hughes, Dr Richard Bernal, Alternate Director – Caribbean Inter-American Development Bank , Mrs. Maureen Vernon, Advisor- Caribbean Division, IDB, and Mrs. Sinclair McCalla.
This evening, Mr Golding will get the opportunity to address the Jamaican Diaspora from Maryland, Virginia and Washington metropolitan area.
Tomorrow morning he will pay a courtesy call on the Secretary General of the Organisation of American States, Jose Miguel Insulza. He will address the OAS Permanent Council in the morning after which he will attend a meeting with the President of the World Bank, Mr Robert Zoellick.
The Prime Minister will end the day with a press briefing organized by the Embassy of Jamaica in Washington DC.