KINGSTON, Jamaica–The Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) has signed a working framework with the Province of Lecce, Italy, setting out shared priorities for cooperation and formally opening the process toward a full town-twinning agreement between the two territories.

The signing took place during an official visit by Mayor of Kingston, Councillor Andrew Swaby, to the Province of Lecce, held from August 4 to 9, at the invitation of the JAMIT Cultural Association.

During the visit, the mayor met with the President of the Province of Lecce, Fabio Tarantino, and municipal leaders across the Salento region of southern Italy, while taking part in a programme of cultural, educational and commercial engagements, building toward the twinning.

The document was signed by Mayor Swaby and President Tarantino. It was also ratified by the mayors or official representatives of seven Comuni: Lecce, San Donato di Lecce, Trepuzzi, Martano, Monteroni di Lecce and Melpignano in the Province of Lecce, and Taranto, in the neighbouring Province of Taranto. The signing followed three editions of the JAMIT Festival and more than two years of cultural and educational exchange coordinated by the JAMIT Cultural Association — work that laid the groundwork for this week’s agreement.

The working framework identifies seven areas for future cooperation between Kingston and St Andrew and the Province of Lecce: culture and creative industries, education, tourism, commerce and enterprise, local government, shared historical memory, and joint participation in European and international funding opportunities.

Speaking after the signing, Mayor Swaby said the agreement gives Kingston a formal basis to build on a relationship already proven through three editions of the JAMIT Festival and sustained cultural exchange.

“This signing puts our intentions in writing. Three editions of the JAMIT Festival, sustained cultural exchange, and a signed MOU with the University of Salento have shown us exactly where real cooperation is possible — in music, in education, in trade — and this framework gives Kingston a formal structure to build on going forward,” Mayor Swaby said.

One of the most significant moments of the itinerary was a commemorative ceremony at the San Brunone Cemetery in Taranto. There, Swaby, Vice Mayor Giorno of Taranto, JAMIT Association diaspora members and special invitees made history as the first official delegation to lay a wreath at the resting place of members of the British West Indies Regiment who fought in World War I.

The mayor noted that this partnership sits on a historical foundation, already built on by ordinary people rather than by government alone.

Kingston holds UNESCO designation as a Creative City of Music, and Salento has developed its own identity through pizzica, the Notte della Taranta tradition and a reggae music scene that has drawn directly on Jamaican influence since the 1990s.
Swaby pointed to the scale of the partnership as well, noting that the Province of Lecce represents ninety-seven municipalities with a population comparable to Kingston and St Andrew, giving both sides room to grow the relationship well beyond culture alone.

“Our visit to a modular manufacturing facility in Trepuzzi shows that this is not a relationship built solely on sentiment. There is solid business to be done here, and legitimate institutions on both sides ready to do it,” Swaby said.

Mayor Swaby closed his remarks by thanking President Tarantino and the mayors and delegates of the participating Comuni for their hospitality throughout the visit, and singled out JAMIT founder Joan “Nanook” Webley for her role in building the relationship between Kingston and Lecce over the past two years. Her research and reclamation of a missing piece of the Caribbean’s Independence story in Italy has provided real encouragement for deepening connections with Italy and the wider European Union.

The KSAMC and the Province of Lecce, together with the seven participating Comuni, will now move forward with the institutional steps required to convert this working framework into a full twinning agreement.

As a further step in that process, the KSAMC will host a delegation from the Province of Lecce on an official visit to Kingston at a later date, providing an opportunity to deepen the relationship on Jamaican soil and advance the work begun in Lecce.