The Governor of the State of Maryland Wes Moore says he wants to enter into greater business and educational partnership with the government of Jamaica.
Speaking during a courtesy call paid on him by Minister of Industry Investment and Commerce Senator Aubyn Hill and Jamaica’s Ambassador to the United States Audrey Marks, last Friday, Governor Moore said he was excited and proud about the potential partnership between Maryland and Jamaica.
“I am ready to take it to new heights. I want for us to be true partners in every sense of the word, in education and business partnership. We have a very strong and proud Jamaica diaspora population here in the state of Maryland,” he said.
Governor Moore pointed out that he was not just the first black governor of the state of Maryland. Rather he is “someone who proudly comes from Jamaican roots. This is a moment right here that we can do special things together,” he declared.
The Maryland Governor whose mother hails from Westmoreland, pointed to some of the areas in which Jamaica and the State of Maryland could forge partnerships. “I think about some of the great assets of Maryland that we have, including a very strong cyber platform; we are strong in terms of tourism and trade; and with the utilization of the ports in Baltimore, which is the largest in the United States I think that we are able to be in partnership with Jamaica,” Moore said.
We know that there are very strong economic bonds between Maryland and Jamaica and these are things we plan to work very hard on, with the leadership of Ambassador Marks to be able to make sure those bonds are strengthened and built out,” the Maryland Governor declared.
Minister Hill noted that “we explored the possibility of student exchanges cooperation between universities and to have the city of Kingston twinned with the city of Baltimore. We also looked at developing Jamaica into a cyber security producer of experts and producer of Jamaican young men who can take Jamaica to a much higher level in the digital service business by focusing on cyber security service.”
Senator Hill pointed out that Governor Moore was very clear that he would be committed to help Jamaica to build this area of our service industry and to make sure that the intellectual exchange and business would be beneficial to both Jamaica and the state of Maryland.
The Industry Commerce and Investment Minister along with Ambassador Marks paid a courtesy call on the Maryland Governor at the office of the governor at the Maryland state house in Annapolis on Friday, June 30. Present at the meeting with the Governor were the Secretary of State for Maryland Susan Lee, and the Secretary of Commerce for Maryland Kevin Anderson.
