An edited version of Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller’s New Year Message.

CELEBRATING the advent of a new year always reminds me of the wonder of a glorious Jamaican sunrise. I greet you with the love, light, warmth, and energy of this new dawn.

Our ancestors from Africa, Asia and Europe call upon us to gaze into our past to seek out the lessons that help us to chart the path for our future. Today I call on each of us to look to both recent and more distant histories to prepare us for every new day; every new year. That history teaches us that we are a resilient people. We have come through the fires of struggle and the tests of time. Those challenges have made us courageous and strong.

Reflection causes us to look back until we see in our minds’ eyes and feel in our very spirits the significance of the efforts made by our forefathers and mothers. They fought to resist the shackles of slavery. They worked their very way through the uncertainty of Emancipation. They fashioned an independent society. They engendered the pride and identity of a people. They envisioned and started the journey towards making Jamaica a developed and prosperous country… and the journey continues.

We look to our history of leadership and acknowledge that each leader, every administration, has made a contribution toward the development of who we are. We also look within us and must admit that every one of us has had a part to play in the creation of who we have become.

We all must take pride in what is great, take responsibility for what is challenging, and take charge of our words and deeds to ensure that they are geared towards making good better, and better, best.

We look through the lens of recent history and see Jamaican Barrington Irving, the first young man to do a solo flight around the world. We see Jamaican scientists making strides and developing cures for terminal ailments using plants and herbs found here in Jamaica. We see men and women from every walk of life excelling in medicine, innovation, agriculture, technology, culture, education, academia, law, business, and public service. There is much to be proud of.

Reflecting on our triumph over adversity gives us hope. This hope is not built on fanciful expectations. Hope inspires all of us to engage in the practical and focused action that must transform our natural creativity and innovation into productive output. It is such action that, in turn, produces results; such results that engender confidence — greater confidence in ourselves and the confidence of others in us as a nation.

In this spirit, I call upon all of us to look first with gratitude at our most recent past; the year 2012 — our ‘golden year’, in which we celebrated and reflected on 50 years of Independence and our development as a nation and a people thus far.

As we reflect, we also look to the glorious, golden performance of our sportsmen and women across sporting disciplines. In 2012 they proved to us what we know of ourselves as a people — that we are strong, we are determined, and we are destined to triumph.

While the pride of Jamaica 50 will follow us into the future, this new year will bring stark realities into focus. Jamaica and Jamaicans are capable and we must live up to the challenges. Our people have what it takes to meet these challenges head-on. We have the talent. We have the ideas. We are purposeful and productive. We have clear and strong plans and must summon the collective will to succeed.

As we look to the year ahead, we continue the dialogue with the International Monetary Fund with the objective of agreeing to an extended fund facility. Let me assure you that this Administration will adhere to sound macro-economic policies whilst taking all necessary steps to foster increased investment in the economy, particularly in physical infrastructure and tourism.

We will work with all our social partners and citizens as we face those challenges together. As we continue to work toward our economic recovery as a nation, we must believe that this can be a great year for Jamaica. Rest assured, this Government will never flinch when it comes to protecting the interest of the Jamaican people. We will continue to work assiduously to uplift all Jamaicans.

I have an abiding confidence in God’s faithfulness and an abiding confidence in the Jamaican people. Let us together reach deep into our souls and from our unbreakable spirits be the change we wish to see in our country.

With all the challenges and choices that 2013 will bring, let us resolve to live in love — the richest of blessings that come from above. I wish Jamaicans at home and abroad prosperity, peace and personal fulfilment for the new year.

Happy 2013. God bless Jamaica, and God bless us all.