Golding calls for mechanism to ‘harness the support of C’bean diaspora’

Opposition leader and People’s National Party president, Mark Golding, has called for mechanisms that will allow the voice of the Caribbean diaspora to be heard in the development of the Caribbean region.

“The Caribbean diaspora is an important force for regional unity. CARICOM, as a maturing regional integration entity, needs a mechanism to harness the support of our Caribbean people in the diaspora. We have to facilitate their considerable goodwill and capacity in support of Caribbean development. We also need to provide our diaspora with channels of reliable information about what is happening in the region,” he said.

To this end he said that CARICOM is yet to devise a formal methodology for tapping the overseas capital markets through making attractively packaged investment financing instruments available to the Caribbean diaspora.

“Such capital flows could be directed towards critical development needs in the region, including the modernizing and expanding of regional air and sea transport. The multiplier effect that such a development would provide to regional trade and economic development would be significant,” said Golding.

Golding was speaking Wednesday at a forum put on by the Caribbean Research and Policy Center in Silver Spring, Maryland.

He and his delegation are on a four-state tour of the United States to interact with the diaspora. He began in Florida, moved to Georgia and then to Virginia/Maryland and Washington DC. The delegation is currently in New York on the last stop on its visit.

Strategic interests

Speaking further on Jamaica’s influence on the region and world stage, the Opposition leader said that Jamaica, under successive PNP governments, has built a respected global reputation that has been used to advance the region’s interests in international organisations and institutions.

“Since our political Independence 60 years ago, Jamaica has gained respect, regionally and internationally, because of the bold statesmanship by consequential leaders like Michael Manley, PJ Patterson and Portia Simpson Miller,” he said.

He continued: “Indeed, under the PNP Jamaica has stood for consistent adherence to progressive democratic principles in furtherance of the strategic interests of the developing world. We deal with other nations on the basis of sovereign equality and diplomatic common sense. Jamaica has thus been able to successfully mediate our encounters with the other nations of the world, and will continue to do so under a future PNP Government.”

Golding said that Jamaica has never reaped substantial benefits from genuflection to international superpowers. On the contrary, he said, the country has made solid gains when it has strengthened pursuit of a common cause by providing leadership at the political, diplomatic and technical levels within CARICOM, the OAS, the UN, the Non-Aligned Movement and the Commonwealth.

“That approach will once again commend itself when Jamaica is under my leadership,” he said.

Golding said that at the same time, his party recognizes the importance and immense value of Jamaica’s longstanding partnership with Washington, which is based on mutual respect and consistent adherence to the principles which have beneficially guided our friendly relations.

“Happily, there are far more instances where our interests coincide than there is divergence. We will continue to work collaboratively in furthering our common interests, based on our shared democratic ideals and our deep linkages,” he said.