JAMAICA IS intensifying its efforts to strengthen relations with nationals abroad, an exercise which received strong support yesterday at a symposium in Kingston.
Jamaicans, said Sir William 'Bill' Morris, former general-secretary of the British Workers Union, are sometimes made to feel like strangers in their own land.
Irwine Clare, managing director of Caribbean Immigration Services Inc. in the United States, deplored the level of service to the community abroad and called for a reorganisation of Jamaican missions to better cater to the diaspora.
ENVIRONMENT SUPPORTING BUSINESS
Ben Cunningham, project director of Metro Employment and Training Company in the United Kingdom, wants to see an environment that supports business, arguing that in Barbados there's a one-stop service centre while in Jamaica there are "several bases" to cover and several "let offs" to get business done.
Jamaicans abroad, estimated at 2.5 million, have a major role to play in the economic, social and political advancement of the country, according to speakers at yesterday's symposium on 'The Jamaican Diaspora Reciprocal Relations: Way Forward' held on the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies. It was organised by the Mona School of Business and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade.
Sir William wants what he calls "the democratic deficit" addressed to possibly pave the way for Jamaicans abroad to vote in local elections. "I do believe that a political link is the best way to maintain an economic interest," he said as guest speaker at the symposium.
"We need to strengthen, not break the political link between Jamaicans at home and those abroad," he stressed. "Only then, by ensuring that every Jamaican has a stake in their country, can we build what this country truly needs a consensus for the politics of community."
Sir William, who is also Chancellor of the University of Technology, said, too, that "we need to develop a stakeholders' culture between the diaspora and the homeland".
RETURNEES
He added: "For far too long, the emphasis has been on returnees, almost exclusively. But now we must raise our game. We need to develop a new agenda to engage Jamaicans in the diaspora. In this new agenda, we must maximise market opportunities wherever they exist and not just market opportunities but also investment offerings."
COMPREHENSIVE DATA BASE
Senator Delano Franklyn, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, said the Ministry is working with the private sector to create a comprehensive data base of Jamaicans overseas. The committee working on this project is headed by Earl Jarrett, general manager of the Jamaica National Building Society.
The Ministry, said Senator Franklyn, is also looking at the legal hurdles companies face while trying to do business in countries where there are large populations of Jamaicans. The committee on this project is being led by Christian Stokes, a senior vice-president of Victoria Mutual Building Society.
The State Minister also announced that the chairman and chief executive officer of Grace, Kennedy and Company Ltd., Douglas Orane, is chairing a committee organising a major conference on the diaspora set for next year.
