JAMAICA | Holness discuss growth potential with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken

WASHINGTON DC, April 1, 2022 - Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness today held meetings with United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken as part of his five day whirlwind tour of Washington DC which begun on Wednesday.

In a tweet today, Prime Minister Andrew Holness noted during the discussions, it was agreed that there were many opportunities to strengthen the relationship and build greater partnerships.

The Prime Minister underscored that Jamaica wants to further its partnership in human resource development.
“We are now at a point where we can pivot to other areas of our economic and social development, and our human capital development. Jamaica has been a net exporter of talent to the United States, and I think our long-standing people to people relationship with migration back and forth would have been mutually beneficial, but Jamaica is in a state now where its growth horizon, could potentially be limited by its human resource development,” said Prime Minister Holness.
In that regard, the Prime Minister emphasized that a small shift in economic policy could result in gains that are significant to both the economies of Jamaica and the United States. 

My delegation and I just concluded a meeting with United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. pic.twitter.com/tiOAjpOlk2

— Andrew Holness (@AndrewHolnessJM) April 1, 2022

Holness in his tweet said: We will be using the channel of a working group to continue strategic dialogue to examine proposals for impactful support to Jamaica’s development objectives.
Moreover, Prime Minister Holness noted that it would be in the interest of the United States to strategically position its production capacity in countries like Jamaica, to improve the stability of production chains and the supply of goods and services.

Furthermore, the Prime Minister stated that he took note of the recent announcement by the United States to release strategic oil reserves.
The Prime Minister said: “We hope this will have a positive effect on the reduction of oil prices and hopefully it will be beneficial to develop countries and developing States like Jamaica who are facing a very difficult time just coming out of the pandemic and then being hit with these geopolitical issues.”

In the meantime, the Prime Minister expressed gratitude to the United States for assistance rendered to improve Jamaica’s fiscal stability, sustainability, and debt reduction.

Our goal here in the US is to strengthen the existing relationship between Jamaica and the United States. Yesterday we met with with Congress Women Maxine Waters and Yvette Clarke, who have been longstanding supporters of Jamaica. pic.twitter.com/9U5kEubcdD

— Andrew Holness (@AndrewHolnessJM) April 1, 2022