The View from Europe - David Jessop

On May 4, Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, plus the island’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kenneth Baugh and its Ministers of Tourism, Agriculture, Housing and Health all travelled to Havana. There, as befits a relationship between two friendly neighbouring Caribbean nations, they were met at the very highest levels of the Cuban Government and Party.

However, this was no routine event. It was of unusual significance to both countries both in its substance and its implications and conveyed important messages about change in both Jamaica and Cuba.

In contrast to episodes when the relationship between Cuba and Jamaica has been politicised, on this visit the Jamaican Government sought to find pragmatic and economically viable ways to develop a much closer social and economic relationship with its largest regional neighbour on the basis of identifying areas of practical co-operation.