KINGSTON, Jamaica — Caribbean countries are expected to benefit from a decision by the Latin-America Energy Organisation (OLADE) to establish a sub-regional office in Jamaica, Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell has said.

The Portia Simpson Miller administration signed the memorandum of understanding with OLADE Tuesday for the office that will serve the needs of Barbados, Cuba, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Suriname.

"The opening of this sub-regional office presents the Caribbean with additional technical expertise that will be integral to our development and will help to meet our development goals, particularly within the areas of energy security and efficiency,” Paulwell said.

He said he is pleased that Jamaica had been selected to host the sub-regional office, adding “in hosting this facility, Jamaica's leadership role in the Caribbean will be enhanced significantly.

“Our dedicated team at the ministry, departments, agencies and institutional capacity will be boosted tremendously as a result of greater access to OLADE's technical experts. It will also go a far way in improving Jamaica’s technical ability to influence the kinds of projects undertaken by OLADE," he added.

Paulwell said the office “will also serve to bridge the language gap and the geological borders that sometimes seem to divide us” and that the partnership with OLADE will also establish an avenue for knowledge sharing among experts and specialists in the energy sector within Latin America and the Caribbean.

OLADE's sub-regional offices are responsible for co-ordinating, co-operating, assisting and implementing the organisation's sub-regional work plans, programmes and projects, with the help of the national co-ordinators of the member countries.

There are 27 OLADE member states in Latin America and the Caribbean with Jamaica being a member since its inception in 1973.