KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, yesterday assured the Senate that she will make a full statement on Jamaica’s position in regional discussions on the situation in Venezuela, when the Senate meets again next week.

Senator Johnson Smith made the commitment in response to questions raised by opposition senator K D Knight, who had expressed concern that the minister was not prepared to make a statement on the matter in the Senate, yesterday.

Senator Knight said that it was of extreme importance in terms of how Jamaica now operates in relation the sovereignty of other countries, and whether or not its position as that matter has changed, and that he could not accept the minister was not prepared to make a statement at this time.

However, Senator Johnson Smith undertook to make a full statement next week, which she said would be more comprehensive than any statement that she could make at the time.

She also noted Jamaica’s agreement with the statement issued yesterday by CARICOM Heads of Government which resulted from consultations involving herself and Prime Minister Andrew Holness, as well as other CARICOM leaders and foreign affairs ministers.

She also asked the Senate to understand her reluctance to go into details of the intra-regional deliberations, including the positions taken by Jamaica vis-a-vie those taken by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago.

Caribbean Community leaders said in the statement issued yesterday that they would seek an “urgent meeting” with United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres, in a bid to resolve the ongoing political developments in Venezuela.

The regional leaders from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts-Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, as well as the foreign ministers from Grenada and Suriname, met by video-conference on Thursday to discuss the situation.

Balford Henry