JAMAICA AND Ireland have identified a number of areas, including information technology, education, health and entertainment, in which to pursue co-operation agreements. These areas were selected in talks between Prime Minister P.J. Patterson and the Prime Minister of Ireland, Mr. Bertie Ahern, when they met in Dublin, Ireland last Thursday.
The leaders agreed that their countries had some similarities in their development patterns and economic history. The take-off in Irish technology development can serve as a model for Jamaica's information technology thrust, which is part of an ongoing programme of economic diversification. The provision of technology trainers was an area chosen for IT collaboration by the Prime Ministers.
Minister of Industry, Commerce and Technology, Phillip Paulwell, headed a team of officials from the Ministry, which accompanied Prime Minister Patterson in Thursday's talks.
The countries are to put together a programme of exchange and co-operation to utilise Irish health tutors in order to expand the programme of nurse training in Jamaica.
Prime Ministers Patterson and Ahern saw the reform of the United Nations Security Council as important in the new realities of the international agenda. Jamaica is currently a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council and has endorsed Ireland's candidacy for a Security Council seat in elections later this year. The Jamaican and Irish Prime Ministers expressed the hope that the UN's millennium summit in September this year will arrive at concrete proposals for the reform effort.
