By Svetlana Marshall in Jamaica
PRESIDENT David Granger and Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness have agreed to reactivate the Guyana-Jamaica Joint Commission as the countries move to strengthen cooperation.

President Granger made the disclosure in the halls of the Montego Bay Convention Centre in Jamaica on Friday, shortly after concluding bilateral talks with Prime Minister Holness, the sitting chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

“There is a Guyana-Jamaica Joint Commission. Unfortunately it has not been functioning, we have agreed that the joint commission would be reactivated,” he told the Guyana Chronicle.

The revitalisation of the commission, the President said, will set the platform for three critical areas of cooperation – Food Security, Energy Security and Public Security.
The joint commission was set up under the Agreement on Economic, Technical and Cultural Co-operation between the Government of Guyana and the Government of Jamaica, signed in June 1, 1995.

The inaugural meeting of the joint commission was held in September,1997 in Jamaica, where discussions were held on the areas of agriculture, trade and investment, mining, energy, health, tourism, youth and culture. With the Bruce Golding Commission Report presented to the CARICOM Heads of Government on Thursday on the effectiveness of existing arrangements within CARICOM, President Granger said there is a renewed focus.

“Coming out of the Golding Report, there is a new energy in Caribbean relations and we are looking at the perpetuation, not the termination, the perpetuation of Caribbean relations. We have accepted that we need to pay attention to things like food security. Guyana has the land space, I keep insisting that the Caribbean countries taken together are the size of Sweden, so land should not be a problem so in terms of food security, I am confident that the Caribbean as a whole can produce all the food that is needed for the hotel industry, for the people,” he explained.

In the area of energy security, President Granger and Prime Minister Holness analyzed the possibilities of Guyana providing the Region with greater access to when the oil and gas industry booms in 2020.
“We are looking at the possibilities of that resource being used in order to enrich the Caribbean access to energy. We are also looking at public security; as you know, there is a threat of trafficking in persons, threat of terrorism, money laundering,” President further explained.

Vice-President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge, who was part of the Guyanese delegation that participated in the meeting, told this newspaper that both Guyana and Jamaica are looking to each other’s resources and experience.
“As you know, Jamaica, in this Region has distinguished itself over the years as a place with a very vibrant private sector of all levels, at the level of hagglers, at the level of regional enterprises and I think they are starting to look at Guyana for the opportunities that Guyana may find.

“In the past, in the very distant past, Jamaica was something of a dynamic market for the Region. It was overtaken for a long time by Trinidad and Tobago, and lately Barbados has been the main market and stimulus for that regional market…for the expansion of inter-regional [sic] trade. Now, it is likely that with the expansion of gold, manganese and now petroleum, Guyana can serve as the fuel for expansion of the regional market,” Minister Greenidge explained.

Guyana and Jamaica, he emphasised, are looking to draw on each other’s skills and experience.
“Jamaica…is looking to see how their skills could be brought to bear.

The financial resources they have, the financial experience and skill they have, the management experience and skill they have and how the framework provided by Guyana could be used to the advantage of Jamaica for the benefit of the people of the Region,” the Foreign Affairs Minister said.

Hospitality and tourism, and the service industry were among other areas covered during the bilateral talks between Guyana and Jamaica. Ambassador Audrey Waddell also attended the meeting with President Granger and Minister Greenidge.