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US welcomes Jamaica’s support for Syria agreement

KINGSTON, Jamaica - THE United States has welcomed Jamaica's support for the agreement between Washington and Moscow for the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons.
America's position was related by US Ambassador to Jamaica Pamela Bridgewater in an interview with newspaper journalists at her residence in Kingston last Friday afternoon.
"We were very happy that Jamaica stated its support for the US/Russia framework agreement," Ambassador Bridgewater said in response to a question from the Jamaica Observer on the issue.

High time indeed to review marijuana policies

KINGSTON, Jamaica - On September 17, the Bureau of the Heads of Government of the 15-nation Caribbean Community (CARICOM) discussed the decriminalisation of marijuana and its production for medicinal purposes.
The discussion was prompted by the prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves who, prior to the meeting, is reported to have said "it is high time" that the matter is addressed "in a sensible, focused, not hysterical manner".

Legalising marijuana would be wrong

KINGSTON, Jamaica - An edited portion of Government MP Dr Dayton Campbell's contribution to the debate in Parliament on the motion to legalise marijuana.
A third of Jamaicans have used ganja in any form and 30 per cent of Jamaicans have smoked marijuana with males reporting this three times more frequently than females.

No respect for charity-seeking countries

KIGNSTON, Jamaica - THE bureau of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), at its recent meeting, decried disparaging comments by foreign financial and economic commentators. Why is CARICOM not getting respect for its economic policy? Nobody is obliged to assist anyone else, but the willingness to help is usually stimulated by sympathy with someone who cannot help himself because of circumstances beyond his control. This may be due to a deformity, which may require permanent assistance, or to tragic events, such as natural disasters or sudden job loss, which may require temporary assistance.

A campaign worth waging

Kingston, Jamaica - The charismatic and visionary St Vincent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves is working hard to put the issue of reparations for slavery on the map. Last week's first ever Regional Reparation Conference is an important initial step.
Nobody pretends that the campaign to obtain reparations for the Caribbean will be easy. Europe is in the middle of a severe economic downturn, triggered by the banking crisis a decade ago. The people of the former slave-holding countries are facing big cuts in their standard of living, jobs and services.

New ‘action’ mood in CARICOM?

KINGSTON, Jamaica - EVEN as Heads of Government of our Caribbean Community (CARICOM) appear to be moving away from a "pause mode" imposed three years ago in favour of a proactive approach on social and economic developments, they would, hopefully, avoid wasting scarce human resources and time in pursuit of new initiatives.

Jamaica lobby at Warsaw climate talks critical – Mahlung

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Gleaner - JAMAICA MUST this year push for not only "adequate and predictable" financing, but also for further work on the international mechanism on loss and damage, to protect it and other vulnerable countries from slow-onset events such as ocean acidification.
So said Clifford Mahlung, one of the island's seasoned climate negotiators and the Latin America and Caribbean representative on the Adaptation Committee of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
His comments come ahead of the Warsaw climate talks set for later this year.

EDITORIAL - Washington makes way for China

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Gleaner - AS THE Obama administration might have noticed, their man, Joe Biden, the vice-president, was not the star attraction in Port-of-Spain in late May when he visited for talks with Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders.
That was reserved, a few days later, for Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader.
Mr Xi played to his billing. He announced US$3 billion in loans and grants to Caribbean countries and talked up Sino-Caribbean relations. "China holds very dear our relationship with the Caribbean region from a strategic perspective," he said.

Private sector doubtful of IMF programme’s success

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Gleaner - Sections of the private sector remain sceptical about the chances of success of Jamaica's 48-month extended fund facility (EFF) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), despite confirmation that policy implementation was strong in the first quarter of the programme.
The Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC), in a communiqué issued following a meeting on Wednesday, said that in discussions with IMF and government officials, members expressed concern that economic growth continued to elude Jamaica.

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