Jamaica’s Foreign Minister, Johnson-Smith Sets New Parameters In Bilateral Relations

Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade the Honourable Senator Mrs. Kamina Johnson-Smith completed a successful visit to Nigeria with an exciting meeting with Jamaican nationals and friends of her country in Abuja last month.

The informal get-together took place at a poolside venue in an upscale residential estate.

In a short but intensely emotional speech Mrs. Johnson-Smith expressed gratitude to the Nigerian Foreign Minister Hon. Geoffrey Onyeama for what she said was an especially hospitable and fraternal meeting of the Nigerian/Jamaican Joint Commission featuring wide-ranging discussions on improved collaboration between both nations on cultural and diplomatic initiatives.

She said that while sheis known for makinga special address about Jamaica’s major attributes that usually lasted about two hours she had been asked to forego that speech for this meeting because it was meant to be a light-hearted social gathering.

Nonetheless she said she had been made to feel so welcome that she wanted to remind her listeners that Nigerians and Jamaicans were really one people and will always remain closely supportive of each other’s mutual development and progress.

Looking to the future,she emphasized that collaboration between the two countries must be enhanced especially in areas of trade and educational cooperation, While she acknowledged the great difference in demographic reality between the two countries as Jamaica’s population is said to be just over two million people while Nigeria is heading for two hundred million she felt that her country’s record of achievements in the global arena were such that it could provide guidance and assistance to many larger nations.

When Nigeria’s Foreign Minister the Hon. Onyeama responded to Mrs. Johnson-Smith’s speech he acknowledged that Jamaica had always “punched above its weight” and he felt it would be advisable for Nigeria to maintain its close ties with the Caribbean island nation as a regular element of national foreign policy for the foreseeable future.

Mrs. Johnson-Smith who is the first female Foreign Minister that Jamaica has had is also the youngest having been born after the country gained its independence in 1962, She is also the Leader of Government Business in the Jamaican Senate. In introducing her to the audience the High. Commissioner of Jamaica in Nigeria His Excellency Esmond Reid recalled the first charter flight to Jamaica which was arranged by a domestic Nigerian airline over a year ago.

He thanked Nigeria’s Minister for his help in getting that initiative off the ground. He hoped that the Jamaican minister’s visit meant that in the future similar initiatives could be effectively organised with the joint support of both governments. As she prepared to leave Nigeria’s shores Mrs. Johnson-Smith appealed to Nigerians and Jamaicans resident in Nigeria to join the online movement to sign a petition to the American government to pardon Jamaica’s national hero Marcus Garvey for his wrongful conviction on criminal charges of fraud in 1923.

Source: nreportonline.com

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