Friday, October 27, 2006

KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS): Executive Director in the Office of the Deputy Secretary General of CARICOM, Jacqueline Josephs, has said that the region’s healthcare system would be greatly advanced through the region’s co-operation with Spain, as part of a 750,000 euro agreement signed last week.

“We [at CARICOM] have been focusing quite a bit on HIV/AIDS, but in this particular case, it was important for us to concentrate more on our non-communicable diseases. Our community is challenged in that area, as it is an area that we have not given sufficient attention and we now have that opportunity to flesh out and implement a number of programmes,” Mrs. Josephs explained.

She was speaking at a press conference following the Second Meeting of the Joint Commission of the Kingdom of Spain and CARICOM between October 18 and 20.

The non-communicable diseases include diabetes, cervical cancer and hypertension.

In a communiqué signed at the event by Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite, Deputy Secretary General of CARICOM and Deputy Director of Co-operation with Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean of the Spanish Agency for International Co-operation (AECI), Pascual Navarro, it was noted that, “the Spanish delegation expressed its interest in contributing to the fight against non-communicable diseases through prevention, education, information and training of health personnel”.

Meanwhile, speaking of plans to improve various agricultural programmes across the region, Ambassador from Spain to Jamaica, Jesus Silva said that, “agriculture is an area where we have identified very important issues for the future”.

Also outlined in the communiqué is that assistance has been requested for the promotion of fisherfolk organisations, in collaboration with the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism.

The Spanish delegation further pledged marketing and export support at the regional level, as well as product standards development.

“This is an important process that was started in the CARICOM/Summit in May 2006 in Madrid, when the Spanish Prime Minister met with most of the Prime Ministers of the Caribbean Community and they instructed us to set a programme…to match the priorities of the region with the priorities of the Spanish Co-operation,” Ambassador Silva said.

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