KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kamina Johnson-Smith says Jamaica, during the 49th meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) in Georgetown, Guyana, completed the process to support the use of the country’s new higher-security skill certificate.

Johnson Smith, in a statement following the November 18-19 meeting, said the COTED was wide-ranging in scope, addressing among other matters, the CSME implementation plan including skills certificates and the free movement of CARICOM nationals. 

“We were pleased to complete our process to support the use of Jamaica’s new higher-security skill certificate by circulating specimens for use by each Member State,” she added.

The minister said the meeting also addressed current World Trade Organization (WTO) matters of specific interest to CARICOM, including agriculture, e-commerce, investment facilitation and micro small and medium enterprises.

“We sought alignment of our CET rates with our WTO bound rates, as we work to honour our commitments made at our last WTO Trade Policy Review to ensure compliance with our international obligations.  This is very important to ensure a framework that will facilitate trade.”

The delegation, led by Johnson-Smith, also participated in the 5th joint meeting of the COTED and the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOS) on Tuesday evening.

Johnson-Smith informed that at the COHSOD meeting, ministers received an update on the region’s progress in raising awareness of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and the identification of public policies to address the challenges posed by a growing prevalence of NCDs. She said Jamaica shared several of its best practices in this regard.

The ministry further noted that Johnson Smith also held bilateral discussions with Antigua and Barbuda and Trinidad and Tobago.