PRIME Minister Portia Simpson Miller yesterday worked the phones between Kingston and the European capitals of Brussels and Rome, expressing regret for any inconvenience caused by her last-minute cancellation of a visit to the continent.

SIMPSON MILLER. went ahead with Washington visit

A Jamaica House statement also explained that Simpson Miller, because of matters requiring her attention, had decided Monday afternoon to adjust the European leg of a scheduled overseas visit which also included a trip to Washington, DC.

"The prime minister... personally extended sincere regrets to the European Commission president, the Pope, the Pio Manzu International Research Centre and the Government and the people of Italy for the inconvenience which the late change in her travel plans may have caused," a statement from Jamaica House confirmed.

At the same time, Cabinet Secretary Dr Carlton Davis came out in support of Simpson Miller, saying: "I do not know what other reasons may have influenced the prime minister's decision, but I know of one, in which I am intimately involved, that is of immediate importance to the development of this country and on which she has to be 'on the ground', here in the Caribbean, to help us deal with."
Davis did not give any specifics of the activity in which he was intimately involved.

Both statements were in response to an Observer lead story Thursday quoting impeccable sources as saying that the prime minister's last-minute cancellation of a second courtesy call on her by the European Commission's president, Jose Manuel Barroso, had gone down badly in Brussels.

"The European Union feels very slighted because it regards Jamaica as an important partner and the president was looking forward to meeting her," the source told the Observer.
Simpson Miller was set to meet the EU president yesterday, as part of a planned visit to Europe, Jamaica's biggest aid donor at J$44.4 billion over 31 years.
But at the 11th hour, Jamaica's ambassador to Brussels, Evadne Coye, notified Barroso's office that the prime minister was unable to keep the appointment because of an unspecified "family health emergency".

The Observer sources said it was the second time that the prime minister was cancelling Barroso, following her aborted meeting in May this year when they were scheduled to attend a summit of heads of government from the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean in Vienna, Austria.
The summit was attended by leaders, including French President Jacques Chirac; Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair; Barbadian Prime Minister Owen Arthur; Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo and Grenada's Keith Mitchell, among others.

Jamaica House insisted that the Observer's story was "an inaccurate and incomplete account of the facts", saying that the PM "did not 'slight' the European Commission president or, indeed, any other dignitary with whom she was scheduled to meet".

It denied, too, that Simpson Miller had called off the visit because of any family health emergency as reported by the Observer, or that the notification by Ambassador Coye had been sent by e-mail. The message was sent "through the normal diplomatic and official channels", the statement said, but did not specify by what means.
The statement also did not comment on the cancellation of the May visit to Vienna, but it was known that the date had come shortly after Simpson Miller's swearing-in as prime minister and might have been too soon.

Explaining why the Washington leg of her visit had gone through, the statement said it was "facilitated because of the short time the prime minister would be away and the relatively short flying time during which she would be out of direct communication contact".
Putting the story in context, a senior analyst said Simpson Miller's visit to Europe would have come at a time when the United States' influence in the world was on the wane, and Europe was directly competing for that sphere of influence.

"The meeting with the Jamaican prime minister is important because of Jamaica's leadership in the Caribbean region," the analyst suggested.
The Jamaica House statement said "the prime minister is fully aware of the importance of Jamaica's relationship with the European Union" and the Holy See, which was also on her European itinerary.

"...Every effort will be made to have these visits rescheduled," the statement assured.

Further, it disclosed that during the planned visit to Europe, in addition to the courtesy call on her by the EU president, Simpson Miller was also to receive the prestigious Pio Manzu Gold Medal Award of the Presidency of the Republic of Italy in recognition of her steadfast commitment to promoting peace and social justice. The prime minister was also to have audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican City in Rome, Italy.

The statement reported that in Washington, the prime minister addressed the powerful Alcoa Women's Network and senior executives of the company.

"That visit also underscored the very important and long-standing relationship between Jamaica and Alcoa and the company's pending expansion investments in the Jamalco bauxite/alumina operations here in Jamaica," said Jamaica House.

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