SOME 350 Jamaicans residing in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States will arrive in the island next week to attend a diaspora conference being hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade.
The event, which will run between June 16 and 17 at the Conference Centre, downtown Kingston, targets Jamaicans in influential positions abroad with a view of strengthening bonds with their homeland. It is also hoped that the event will kick start a database of the wider community. Part of the effort is to capture and retain the interests of second to fourth generation Jamaicans in the diaspora.
According to Senator Delano Franklyn, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, there will be 130 participants from the U.S., and two groups of 60 persons from the U.K. and Canada.
The conference will be discussing a number of issues relevant to the diaspora. These will include health, business, education, law and order, passport, customs, the economy, development and tourism.
Prime Minister P.J. Patterson will be the guest speaker at the opening ceremony, while Mr. Alvin Curling, Speaker of the House of the Legislative Assembly, Ontario, Canada, will address guests at a diner and dance bringing the event to a close.
