Foreign Affairs Minister Kamina Johnson-Smith says there is nothing unusual or divisive about the planned meetings with the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
According to her, this week’s US engagements with Caribbean foreign ministers are being undertaken largely bilaterally and not within a Caricom context.
The comment from the minister comes as the government notes statements in the media suggesting that attempts are being made to divide Caricom, as all of its members were not invited to bilateral meetings with United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Jamaica this week.
In a statement this afternoon Mrs Johnson-Smith says there is nothing unusual or divisive about such meetings, adding that all countries, large and small, have a sovereign right to engage bi-laterally with any other country, beyond any regional or hemispheric arrangement.
She adds that this happens across the world even in political unions which Caricom indisputably is not.
Johnson Smith says Jamaicans should remember that the understanding in Caricom is that member states should work to coordinate foreign policy, and Jamaica collaborates on issues and considers each other’s positions, but there is no obligation to harmonize policy.
She adds that since its formation, members have, as is their sovereign right, voted differently and taken differing positions on a variety of issues and that Jamaica has always both exercised that right and respected it when exercised by others.
The minister of foreign affairs asserts that Jamaica will continue to act in a principled manner to ensure that the region remains a “zone of peace”, while engaging with partner countries in advancing development goals and economic interests.
She says Jamaica views the expanded context of these bilateral meetings as a welcome and positive development, since the last visit of a US Secretary of State to Jamaica in 2018.
Johnson Smith will join Prime Minister Andrew Holness and senior cabinet ministers for bilateral talks with secretary Pompeo tomorrow Wednesday January 22.
Meetings with his Caribbean counterparts will take place afterwards.