KINGSTON, Jamaica — Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett departed the island today to participate in the highly anticipated Tourism Recovery Summit for African Ministers of Tourism, which will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, on Friday, July 16, 2021.

The ministry said Bartlett was invited to speak at the summit in his capacity as a well-respected global thought leader on tourism resilience and recovery.

While in Kenya, the minister will continue investment talks with Minister of Tourism for Saudi Arabia, Ahmed Al Khateeb, which officially began in June when Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator Aubyn Hill, hosted the first Jamaica-Saudi Arabia bilateral conference focused on inward investments to foster economic growth and the creation of new local jobs. 

At that time, Minister Al Khateeb led a high-level delegation during his recent visit to Jamaica, including, Abdurahman Bakir, vice president for Investment Attraction and Development in the Ministry of Investment in Saudi Arabia, and Hammad Al-Balawi, general manager for Investment Management and Oversight in the Saudi Ministry of Tourism.

At the June 24 meeting, Hill expressed the government’s commitment to strengthening the Jamaica-Saudi Arabia relationship.

Likewise, Minister Al Khateeb, who is chairman of the powerful multi-billion US dollar Saudi Fund for Development, expressed a vision of catalysing the expansion of Saudi Arabian business operations in the Americas, especially throughout the Caribbean and Latin American region.

“The high-level summit follows on the heels of the Tourism Recovery Summit held in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia in May of this year. It will focus on the new era that the tourism sector is now entering and will explore ways to rebuild the African tourism sector that has been impacted negatively by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Bartlett explained.  

“The summit will also explore the opportunity for stronger partnerships between African countries and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to mitigate the pandemic’s effects and boost resilience,” he added.

Bartlett is also slated to attend a special meeting with the President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta and other ministers, which will culminate in the signing of a MOU between the Jamaican based Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) and its satellite centre in Nairobi.

President Kenyatta serves as the honorary co-chair (representing Africa) of the GTRCMC along with Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, former president of Malta.

Bartlett has also been invited to tour Kenyatta University and the GTRCMC — East Africa, in Nairobi on July 15, where he will be hosted by the Vice Chancellor of Kenyatta University, Professor Paul Wainaina. 

The minister will return to the island on July 19, 2021.