MONTEGO BAY, St James

Chairman of the St James Municipal Corporation, Councillor Homer Davis, says the city of Montego Bay could soon be twinned with a city in Spain.

Councillor Davis, who is also Mayor of Montego Bay, made the announcement after the Ambassador of Spain to Jamaica, His Excellency Josep Bosch paid a courtesy call on him on Monday at his Union Street Chamber.

Speaking to the media following the meeting, Mayor Davis said discussions will be held between the Municipal Corporation and the Spanish Ambassador’s office in relation to selecting the city to which Montego Bay will be twinned.

Davis hinted that Madrid could be the likely city selected for the twinning as it shares a lot of similarities with Montego Bay to include tourism, commerce and other small industries.

“The St James Municipal Corporation welcomes the twinning as it will be mutually beneficial. We have not yet officially selected the Spanish city to which Montego Bay will be twinned, but I am confident that the process will be completed in short order and that almost immediately that is done, the benefits will be seen,” said Davis.

He added: “Montego Bay shares a lot of similarities with Spain…tourism, commerce, cottage industries among others, and I am sure that this planned twinning exercise will bring new benefits to the people of both cities. There is a lot that we can learn from our Spanish counterparts and I am sure they are also open to the idea of learning from us.”

The planned twinning of Montego Bay with the Spanish city will bring to four the number of cities to which the tourism mecca has been twinned.

Atlanta in the United States, Hangzhou in China and Varadero in Cuba are the other cities twinned with Montego Bay.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Bosch, who was on a fact- finding mission to Montego Bay, said he too is eagerly looking forward to the twinning as there are several benefits to be derived from it.

Ambassador Bosch, who also visited the Western Hospitality Institute on East Street and the Granville HEART/NTA, stated that he will be pushing for greater cooperation between Montego Bay and Spain in the field of hospitality training.

He also highlighted the fact that the Spanish Jamaica Foundation currently supports a Spanish lecturer at the Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College and that the hope is for more institutions of learning to include the teaching of Spanish in their curriculum.