CARICOM Secretary General to meet with Jamaican gov't officials

Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Irwin LaRocque is scheduled to travel to Jamaica next week to meet with government officials for talks on a range of issues.

Foreign Affairs minister Kamina Johnson Smith made the announcement on Wednesday during a post Cabinet press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister.

One top on the agenda will be the cases involving the refusal of entry of Jamaican nationals to Trinidad and Tobago.

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary-General, Irwin LaRocque, is scheduled to travel to Jamaica “The trip by the Secretary-General coincides with these issues. It is not in respect of them but it will be a matter on the agenda for discussion,” Johnson Smith said.

She informed that she has met with Trinidad and Tobago’s Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Minister, Dennis Moses, to have the issues resolved.

“We’re anxious for the address of these issues that plague relations between Jamaica and Trinidad,” she told reporters.

The Foreign Affairs minister again urged Jamaicans, who have been refused entry into certain Caribbean nations or who have been mistreated, to lodge a formal complaint at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade.

“Make a formal report either at the Ministry or at the airport when you are landed. It is important that you give us the information that will help us to represent your interest and that will address the broader issue,” she said.

In recent weeks Jamaica has been probing reports of some Jamaicans being denied entry into the twin island republic.

Stemming from the increase in the number of Jamaicans being barred from the CARICOM member state, the President of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) , William Mahfood, has called on Jamaicans to boycott products from Trinidad and Tobago  until obligations under the CARICOM Single Market and Economy are honoured.