Region Will Engage New U.S. Administration – PM

Prime Minister, Bruce Golding yesterday (Jan. 20) expressed the hope that the interest of developing countries like Jamaica, which is often left on the periphery of the global agenda, will form part of the United States’ foreign policy framework under the new Barack Obama presidency.
While offering his congratulations to 44th President of the United States of America, Mr Golding said Jamaica has already taken steps to engage the new administration on issues of concern to the country, the Caribbean and the wider Latin American region.
“We look forward to pursuing these issues with President Obama at the Summit of the Americas, which will take place in Trinidad from April 17 to19. I will be meeting with a number of CARICOM leaders in Barbados next week and we will begin to develop the agenda for a new arrangement between the United States and the Caribbean,” Mr Golding said during his statement to the House of Representatives.
He also stated that he has “conveyed to President Obama the commitment of the Government of Jamaica to the strengthening of the long, friendly and productive relations that have existed between our two countries.”
“We are encouraged and we have reason to be hopeful. President Obama has signalled that his presidency will make a difference. Consistently in his utterances and his interaction with the American people, he has inspired in Americans and in people across vast oceans and continents the belief that the world is on the threshold of something new and something good,” Mr. Golding said.
Member of Parliament for South St. Andrew, Dr. Omar Davies also congratulated Barack Obama on his appointment as the 44th President of the United States of America.
Dr. Davies also said Jamaica has a vested interest in his success and his administration in addressing the current economic crisis that is affecting the world.
“Because the extent, to which the American economy recovers, is the extent to which our prospect for growth improves,” Dr. Davies said.
President Barack Obama was sworn in yesterday (Jan.20) as the 44th President of the United States of America at an inauguration ceremony held at West Front of the US Capitol in Washington, DC.