Minister leads Jamaican delegation to Canada

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Finance and Planning Minister, Dr. the Hon. Peter Phillips leads a Jamaican delegation to Canada to further deepen the trade, financial and investment relationship between the two countries. The talks with authorities at both the ministerial and parliamentary levels in the Canadian government will be focused on ways of assisting Jamaica’s efforts in addressing its debt servicing and external financing challenges.

Importantly also, the Finance Minister will hold discussions with representatives of Canadian Council of the Americas (CCA), as well as, with private financial institutions and firms involved in investment overseas on ways to support Jamaica’s economic development. The Canadian Council of the Americas list its primary objective as stimulating the expansion of Canadian commercial interests in the markets of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Dr. Phillips will also take the opportunity to address members of the Jamaican Diaspora in Toronto on the progress of the country’s economic reform programme and the challenges facing the economy.

The rest of the Jamaican delegation comprises the Governor of the Bank of Jamaica, Mr. Brian Wynter; the Financial Secretary, Mr. Devon Rowe; and the Technical Advisor to the Minister of Finance and Planning, Ms Helen McIntosh.

The team leaves for Canada on Tuesday, May 5, 2015 for meetings in Toronto and Ottawa, and return to Jamaica on Friday, May 8, 2015