Report to Be Presented at Diaspora Conference

A special feature of the Eighth Biennial Diaspora Conference 2019 will be the presentation of a report that will highlight the implementation of recommendations made at Conference 2017.

The upcoming conference will be held from June 16 to 20 under the theme ‘Jamaica and the Diaspora: Building Pathways for Sustainable Development’.

Speaking at a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’ on June 5 at the agency’s head office in Kingston, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator the Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith, said that reporting on the 2017 conference “must be honest”.

“I have, therefore, indicated that we will not only be sharing what was completed but will be sharing what hasn’t been and what still needs energy or what might still not be relevant,” she said.

Senator Johnson said it is important to have continuity and to complete what “we had said that we would be doing”.

The Senator cited the Adopt-a-Clinic Initiative launched in 2017 and said that despite a strong level of commitment in the number of clinics that would be adopted, the numbers did not materialise.

The Initiative seeks to attract and identify stakeholders who will adopt the facilities and provide the requisite basic needs and resources that better enable those institutions to deliver improved quality services to persons in the communities where they are located.

Signature features of the conference will include the MarketPlace exposition of Jamaican goods and services; Government At Your Service – a fast-tracked one-stop shop at the conference; and a range of hospitality and cultural activities.