KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica and Ghana have agreed on a series of measures covering health, defence, trade, air services, culture, sports and education following the third session of the Jamaica-Ghana Permanent Joint Commission for Cooperation, the first such meeting between the two countries in 21 years.
Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Kamina Johnson Smith. (Photo credit: JIS)Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Kamina Johnson Smith said the formal meetings, held in Accra on May 25 and 26, resulted in the signing of cooperation agreements in health and defence, as well as the modernisation of an existing agreement on sports and culture.
“The visit provided an excellent opportunity to advance and re-energise our cooperation in the areas of health, in the areas of defence, trade, air services, culture, sports and education,” Johnson Smith said during a post-Cabinet press briefing.
The newly signed health agreement establishes a framework for the recruitment of Ghanaian healthcare workers to Jamaica. It also provides for bilateral cooperation in hospital management, specialised care, digital health, telemedicine, emergency preparedness, research and health surveillance.
On defence cooperation, Johnson Smith said the agreement builds on Ghana’s recent solidarity mission to Jamaica in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.
“The agreement provides for a framework for joint training for maritime security, cyber defence, and cooperation against transnational threats,” she said.
The minister noted that the model utilised by the Ghana Armed Forces engineering corps during its mission to Jamaica will now serve as a blueprint for the country’s future humanitarian responses.
“Normally, they donate food or other in kind, or even cash, but this was the first time they had members of their engineering corps on the ground, and… because of its excellent success, it now will serve as a model for their unfolding of this model in other humanitarian responses where required,” Johnson Smith said.
The two countries also updated and modernised a 2005 agreement on sports and culture, expanding its scope to better reflect contemporary creative industries.
In addition, the Joint Commission agreed to pursue joint ventures in agro-processing, financial technology, logistics, manufacturing, energy and the creative industries as part of efforts to translate South-South cooperation into economic outcomes.
Johnson Smith said Industry, Investment and Commerce Minister Aubyn Hill will lead a Jamaican business delegation to Ghana in July to help advance those objectives. The mission, being organised in partnership with JAMPRO, already has 38 registered Jamaican companies seeking to expand exports and investments.
The countries also pledged to fast-track implementation of the bilateral Air Services Agreement signed in 2018.
“Ghana, on their side, is working on their airlift, and there will be more to say about that in due course. And we are ultimately examining the opportunity for establishing direct air links and, by extension, increased people-to-people ties between Kingston and Accra, both gateways to our respective regions,” Johnson Smith said.
Both countries agreed to utilise biennial political consultations and technical implementation teams to monitor progress on the initiatives.
The next meeting of the Permanent Joint Commission will be held in Kingston as Jamaica and Ghana move towards the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2028.
