Representatives of 15 Caribbean countries will be in town for a major conference on partnerships in technical and vocational education in the region.

The conference is sponsored by the Colombian Government, which has been working with Jamaica's HEART Trust/National Training Agency (the model institution for the entire Caribbean) to develop this much-needed, and sometimes overlooked area of education.

But before the conference chatter began, the guests were treated to a cocktail reception at Pollyanna's Restaurant on Stanton Terrace, on Wednesday evening. This was the type of reception everyone enjoys; few (and short) speeches and plenty of talk over drinks and nibbles. Here are the highlights.

Vice-principal of the Vocational Training and Development Institute, Sonia Bennett-Cunningham (left) and Kevin Mullings, HEART Trust/NTA national programmes director (second left), welcome Colombian Ambassador Dr Ventura Emilio Diaz Mejia and Julia Gutierrez of SENA Colombia, the country's national training service.

Grace McLean (left), of the HEART Trust/NTA, listens keenly to Claudia Palas, who specialises in vocational education in Suriname's Ministry of Education.

Acting executive director of the HEART Trust/NTA, Paulette Dunn-Smith, chats with Lindsey Ndahi (right), International Labour Organisation senior specialist and Luis deShong, a skills-training delegate from St Vincent and the Grenadines, here for the Caribbean Regional Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Conference.

Kevin Mullings, national programmes director at the HEART Trust/NTA, seems to be handing his card to Julia Gutierrez of SENA Colombia, the country's national training service.

George Ramocan (left), jokes with Colombian Ambassador Dr Ventura Emilio Diaz Mejia, at the Caribbean Regional TVET Conference reception at the Pollyanna Restaurant, St Andrew, on Wednesday.