Chief executive officer and commissioner of the Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA), Velma Ricketts Walker, says the Jamaican and US governments are expected to sign a Customs Mutual Assistance Agreement by the end of the calendar year.

This, she believes, will signify the forging of a deeper partnership to facilitate greater information sharing. Ricketts Walker told the Jamaica Observer that the agreement with Jamaica’s major trading partner would not have a specified timeline, but rather remain as a continuous agreement to increase assurance and facilitate greater investigations in protection and security to effectively manage and protect the two countries’ borders.

“We would have had over the years a great relationship with the US, so it is not like there isn’t any corporation, but when you have this agreement, it shows in a more formal way the commitment towards the partnership in the fight in everything as it relates to drugs, ammunition and firearms, human trafficking and all the crimes and situations that are affecting both countries, that we can forge our efforts in a more formalised and structured way,” Ricketts Walker told the Business Observer.

“Currently the [JCA] and the Government of Jamaica, which is the attorney general’s chambers is currently doing its internal review of the agreement to further send it over to the US’s legal team, so that we can all come to a necessary mutual agreement and execute the agreement by way of signing,” she continued.

Speaking at the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce 18th Annual Customs Seminar on Thursday (September 26) at The Knutsford Court Hotel, the commissioner indicated that while Jamaica has about 19 official sea ports or maritime points of entry and exit where JCA, other border regulatory agencies and the police are stationed, there are close to 145 unofficial ports that present a great challenge.

“Now, though we are a beautiful island surrounded by sea, our blessings sometimes can be a curse, because within that concept and construct creates porous borders; undetected cargo and potential contamination of cargo by other players within the supply chain are some of the challenges that Customs currently face,” she stated.

She added that for the period of April to August in 2019, the JCA recorded 159 drugs seizures and seized 3775 ammunitions. Ricketts Walker added that the Jamaica Customs Agency continue to have joint coordination units with regional and international bodies/entities such as the United Nations Office of Drug and Crime, World Customs Organization, The Caribbean Customs Law Enforcement Council, Caricom Implementing Agency for Crime and Security and the Joint Regional Communication Centre