KINGSTON, Jamaica – Opposition spokesman on foreign affairs and foreign trade Edmund Bartlett says the Jamaica Labour Party wants the Government to seek to advance Jamaica’s strategic interests and strengthen relationships with the United Kingdom (UK) during this week’s visit by Prime Minister David Cameron.

“The United Kingdom remains one of Jamaica’s largest trading partners, and with Prime Minister Cameron’s visit affording us an opportunity for bilateral talks, we must make full use of it by placing issues pertinent to Jamaica’s development and the advancement of our people on the table,” Bartlett said in a release last night.

“The Government must spare no effort during Prime Minister Cameron’s visit, particularly as it relates to trade and investments, to advance positions and create opportunities that will benefit the people of Jamaica in meaningful ways,” he said.

He said that among Jamaica’s most pressing challenges at this time are those to do with national security and the economy. 

“It is important, therefore, that we zero in on matters having to do with trade, investment, travel facilitation, immigration, deportation, and national security,” he argued.

Bartlett explained that in the area of travel facilitation, Jamaica could derive considerable benefit from having more Jamaicans in the UK, as well as tourists travelling to Jamaica, “if we successfully lobby the British Government to reduce the air passenger duty related to travel from the UK to Jamaica, making travel less costly and prohibitive”.

He also said that the Government should spare no effort in addressing matters of immigration and deportation in talks with Cameron. 

He stated that greater collaboration is needed in this area, however, in light of the pressures those deported from the UK place on the already overburdened penal and criminal justice systems, and the overall challenges they present to national security.