By Joyce Osaji
The Nigeria Minister of Foreign Affairs has assured that it is bent in assuring fostered prosperity between Nigeria and Jamaica.
This was disclosed at the fourth session of the Nigeria-Jamaica Joint Commission in Abuja on Thursday, while stressing that the Joint Commission is very important, he said discussions are centered on number of key areas and believes that cooperation between the two countries will be able to achieve that shared prosperity.
The minister also emphasized on trade and how important it is for the two countries. He said “the level of trade between the two countries is not where we will like it to be”. He also said that when all this plots and mechanism are put in place, there will be an increment in the level of trade between the two countries.
Also stating that Jamaica has the opportunity to leverage on the trade relations agreement between the two countries to access the whole African market.
“We also need to look at the cultural level where we can drink more Jamaican rum here and export palm wine to them and we export afrobeat and they will give us reggae and calypso, as well as show us how to organize carnivals through technology transfer to have better carnivals. There is so much we can be doing as a people to cement this relationship”.
Onyeama further said that tourism and culture is another area he sees alot of potentials. He said we have a lot to learn in tourism from Jamaica knowing fully well that globally, Jamaica is one of the top tourist destination in the world.
Geoffrey Onyeama also encouraged that all the field that has been looked into during this joint commission should not just be words but it should be transformed and translated into concrete deliverables that will lead to a shared prospective between the two countries.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Jamaica, Kamina Johnson Smith, said the joint commission allows the two countries to celebrate and deepen the long-standing formidable and dynamic friendship between Jamaica and Nigeria.
According to her: “This occasion of course marks the very first time that the meeting of this joint commission is taking place on the continent in Nigeria. Since its establishment over 30 years ago, this joint commission has been a viable and important medium for us to exchange views on issues of mutual interest.
“We are pleased to have hosted previous sessions of the joint commission in 1999, 2002 and 2014 and we welcome the fact that we are able to meet here in your wonderful country during my first official visit to Nigeria.
“I and my team are committed to ensuring that the mechanisms we put in place will allow for continuous follow-up and implementation to ensure that there are deeds to match the words which will be exchanged during the course of today”
She expressed confidence that the two countries can foster more mutually beneficial frameworks for engagement and commerce and that they will identify new areas for cooperation even as they seek to deepen existing ones.
“It is worthy of note that Jamaica and Nigeria have maintained active levels of cooperation over the years, notably in health, education, craft development and other cultural fields, as well as tourism and energy”.
