Jamaica’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Kamina Johnson Smith, and her Dominican Republic counterpart, Miguel Vargas, signed a memorandum of understanding during the visit of President Danilo Medina to Jamaica this 27-29 November 2017.
The Jamaica Gleaner reported that Prime Minister Andrew Holness has said a new air services agreement is to be negotiated between Jamaica and the Dominican Republic will complement a soon-to-be-signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on multi-destination tourism.
Holness made the declaration during his press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister on 28 November 2017 after meeting with President Danilo Medina to discuss bilateral, regional and multilateral issues.
Holness said the two governments had also agreed to establish a joint bilateral commission to enable broader cooperation in sports, culture, education and other areas of mutual interests.
By reaching out to Danilo Medina, the prime minister made a point to break the reticence of English-speaking Caribbean to establish stronger ties with the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic. The only other Caribbean island head of state to attend the UNWTO Global Caribbean Sustainable Tourism Conference was Prime Minister Allen Castanet of St. Lucia. Castanet is a long time hotelier.
“Jamaica and the Dominican Republic have mutual interests in strengthening trade and investment relationships with the aim of creating more opportunities for employment and income generation in both countries,” added Holness.
Read more:
Jamaica Gleaner
29 November 2017
