Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, said that Prime Minister, Dr Andrew Holness, will assume the Chairmanship of CARICOM on July 1st. She noted that trade and security are among the key issues to be discussed by the CARICOM Heads.

She mentioned that Prime Minister Holness, who chairs the Prime Ministerial Subcommittee on External Trade Negotiations, had presented on the topics at the 48th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads in Barbados in February. “We're doing the work between the two meetings to allow for a richer discussion. Security, as you know, is one of the critical constraints on economic growth across all of the countries in the region,” she pointed out.

“The Prime Minister has been calling for a more global approach to transnational crime and focusing on the connections and the cooperative mechanisms that are needed in a more strategic manner. So, this is likely to be a major part of the agenda as well,” she noted. The upcoming CARICOM meeting coincides with the International Conference on Financing for Development meeting in Seville, Spain from June 30th to July 3rd. (Jamaica Gleaner)