Photo Caption: Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith ( second from left), pauses for a photo opportunity with State Minister, Alando Terrelonge (left) and Jamaica Diaspora Conference legacy sponsor representatives (from left): Courtney Campbell, president and chief executive officer of VM Group; Leesa Kow, managing director, JN Bank and Gabriel Heron, head, business transformation, GraceKennedy. The conference, which will be staged for a 10th time, June 16 to 19, forms a significant lynchpin in country’s diaspora engagement strategy, which Mrs Johnson Smith says has become a model for other developing countries.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, says the biennial staging of the Jamaica Diaspora Conference has been an active space marked by achievements in engaging Jamaicans overseas in the development of the country.
This year’s staging of the conference, which was launched at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade in downtown Kingston late last week (April 4), will mark the 10th forum. It will be hosted by the city of Montego Bay in St James at the Montego Bay Convention Centre, located on the outskirts of the municipality.
Pointing to the National Diaspora Policy while delivering the keynote address at the launch, Minister Johnson Smith said that Jamaica’s approach to engaging with its diaspora over the years has become a model for other developing countries. She encouraged all stakeholders, locally and overseas, to share in the accomplishments.
“I hope you share in my sense of progress and my sense of accomplishment that we are marking time and marking movement,” she declared. “We are not standing in place, we are not a ‘talk shop’, we are engaging and growing as a diaspora…,” she continued, pointing that Jamaica has been able to build its partnership with its diaspora into its foreign policy framework, development plan, as well as into its medium-term socio-economic framework.
“This is about building on a platform that already exists and working with a framework so that we are actually achieving and moving forward and upward. I really feel good about the alignment, because taken together, these achievements are the government’s roadmap for diaspora inclusion and is part of the effort to make Jamaica the place to live, work, raise families and do business, and, as the prime minister always says when engaging with the diaspora, ‘and retire in paradise’,” she told sponsors, guests and Jamaicans overseas attending the launch in Kingston and online.
She noted that, over the years, the conferences have facilitated a whole of society approach to developing the National Diaspora Policy and other key initiatives, such as the Jamaica Diaspora Engagement Model (JAM-DEM) platform, which will support Jamaicans overseas interested in investing in the country. The $30 million project being pursued with the support of the International Organization for Migration, is to be launched in June, she said.
“Quite simply, at this conference, connections will be made, partnerships will be born, some will be strengthened. Business opportunities are going to be created. You have to be there to be a part of it all. The experience will be that much richer because we are on the ground,” she assured persons in the diaspora.
Legacy sponsors, the JN Group, VM Group and GraceKennedy, also hailed the power of the biennial conference in solidifying partnerships for development with the country’s estimated 3 million Jamaicans living outside its geographic borders.
“Through their diverse skills, experiences, and networks acquired abroad, Jamaicans in the diaspora bring valuable expertise and resources to the table, driving progress in various sectors of the Jamaican economy,” underscored Leesa Kow, managing director, JN Bank, who represented the JN Group. She called for further engagement of the Jamaican Diaspora in nation building in this regard, noting that “ultimately, the collective efforts of Jamaicans both at home and abroad will help to bolster economic growth and stability.”
Pointing out that the theme of the conference personally resonated with him, Senator Don Wehby, chief executive officer of GraceKennedy, noted that the conference has enabled Jamaicans locally and abroad to unite under a shared vision. The conference is being held under the theme ‘United for Jamaica’s Transformation: Fostering Peace, Productivity and Youth Empowerment’. “It (the theme) embodies the collective commitment to building a better nation,” he stressed.
And while outlining 10 compelling reasons Jamaicans overseas should register and attend the conference, Courtney Campbell, president and chief executive officer of the VM Group, who is this year’s conference chairman, called the biennial convention an “increasingly important forum to facilitate cross border engagement to help realise our highest economic, social and cultural aspirations.”
“Come to the conference to build stronger networks with other non-resident and resident Jamaicans in areas of interest to you. This can lead to transformational connections and collaborations,” he persuaded Jamaicans overseas, as he shared his tenth and final reason to attend the conference.
The 10th Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference will be held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre. Persons may register at https://diasporaconferenceja.eventbrite.com.
