Speeches by the Prime Minister

My fellow Jamaicans, my fellow Jamaicans! Jamaica’s heritage is indeed our greatest legacy. The uniqueness of our people, our language, music, folklore, gastronomy, and traditional practices are undeniably amazing. People from all over the world aspire to live breathe and experience the Jamaican lifestyle and want to identify with the Jamaican brand. In that regard, I am pleased to extend a warm Jamaican greeting to one and all. The legacy of our treasured heritage spans generations. The freedom and privileges that we enjoy today and that some may even take for granted; we owe to the fortitude of our National Heroes. Our heritage defines who we are as a people, strong resilient and assertive. Those who continue to preserve, protect and promote our heritage today are national heroes. This week, we recognize outstanding individuals among us who have been inspirational forces, contributing positively to the growth and development of our community and our country at large. As I salute our National Heroes, I also congratulate all Jamaicans who will be honoured for their contribution to nation-building. This year, I encourage all Jamaicans to reflect with genuine pride on our cultural and material heritage. Let us celebrate “Our Heritage…A Great Legacy”. In…

Mr Speaker, I got to know Ken Baugh when I was just about to leave high school because he established his medical practice in Spanish Town where I grew up and he became my doctor then; I went to him for my check-ups and medicals to go back to school and I try to engage him in political conversations at the time but obviously he had put politics down for a while and was deciding to focus on his medical professions and growing his practice. When I came to Kingston after university, he continued to be my doctor and in fact by then had a practice in Kingston and I joked with him at that time to say when you were in Spanish Town you didn't have any interest but now that you've come back to Kingston, you now have an interest and he pointed out that he was encouraged by friends and I suspect one of them would have been his good friend here, the now House leader, to come back into politics and he decided to take up the seat West Central St Catherine. He was not successful at that time in 1993; he was defeated by Alethia…

Bishop C. Everton Thomas for our prayers The Most Honourable Juliet Holness The Honourable Audley Shaw Honourable Daryl Vaz And other members of the Cabinet Minister Chuck Minister Henry I see here the minister of state in the Ministry of National Security, the Honourable Rudyard Spencer; very alert, who will be planting many trees with us. Mayors and members of the municipal councils Our friends in the diplomatic community who are here You would have heard from Her Excellency Ambassador Wasilewska Ms Marilyn Headley, Chief Executive Officer and Conservator of Forest and other members of Forestry Department Mrs Miriam McIntosh Robinson, Vice President of the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica Other members of civil society and other stakeholder groups who are here And a special acknowledgement to our beautiful students who performed for us from the Jamaica House Basic School and our excellent drummers from Ardenne High School.   The challenge with reading prepared salutations and protocol lists is that sometimes these are prepared beforehand and they leave out very important persons who may be in the audience and then the prime minister gets blamed for overlooking the important people who are in the audience so all the important people…

Raising the Bar for Private Sector Climate Action   SALUTATIONS Incheon which is a very lovely city, I had a chance to tour briefly and I must say it is a beautiful city. The Executive Director of the GCF, Mr Glemarec Excellencies Ladies and gentlemen, I'm very pleased to be here with you this morning.   For a small island developing country like Jamaica, climate change is not an academic issue. With hotter temperatures, coastal encroachment, shorter and more intense periods of rain, longer and more intense periods of drought, and more frequent and destructive hurricanes, climate change is our daily reality. For us Climate Change spells disaster. But if we embrace the challenge it could easily mean opportunity.  The physical damage and human suffering visited upon countries like the Bahamas, the very small island of Dominica which was totally wiped out by Hurricane Maria and Antigua and Barbuda is well told. The fiscal and economic damage, however, is not as well known. Climate-related shocks, whether sharp and swift hurricanes or lingering and debilitating droughts have a long-term effect particularly on the economic growth trajectory and the public debt of small developing states and least developed countries. The problem is compounded…

Theme: “Galvanising multilateral efforts for poverty eradication, quality education, climate action and inclusion”   Mr. President, I extend heartiest congratulations on your election as President of this 74th Session of the General Assembly and assure you of Jamaica's full support in the work ahead. I must also convey our deepest appreciation to Her Excellency Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, for so ably guiding our work in the preceding session. Mr. President, The United Nations is critical to building a world of peace, security and development. These are the hallmarks of our multilateral collaborative activities of which we can all be justly proud. No individual country can fulfill the development aspirations of its people, without working in partnership with others. We are grateful therefore, to the Secretary General and his team and all who have been the drivers behind the many successful UN initiatives. At the same time, our global space is facing unprecedented risks. These include deepening geopolitical conflicts; heightened trade tensions; terrorist attacks and new security threats. There is also growing religious intolerance, increasing xenophobic behavior and not least of all the devastating effects of climate change. Sadly, we are witnessing these phenomena against the background of fears of a…

Mr. Chairman, I join others in commending the European Union for its commitment to partner with others in support of action to empower women and girls. The ‘Spotlight Initiative’ has provided impetus for global action to end gender-based violence. The EU’s substantial financial allocation to that initiative is evidence of its unquestionable commitment to that goal. This multilateral partnership forged between the EU, the UN and beneficiary countries for the implementation of the ‘Spotlight Initiative’, is an excellent model for advocacy on issues of global concern. Gender-based violence, manifested in violence against women and girls, is an issue we all grapple within our societies.  In Jamaica we are no exception, so tackling this issue is of the highest priority for my Government. The abuse of, and persistent acts of violence against women and girls: perpetuate a dysfunctional cycle of societal violence, hinder the economic and social empowerment of women and girls in their daily lives, and; slow the attainment of Goal Five (5) of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They must be addressed with urgency. The “Spotlight Initiative” is, therefore, a most timely and commendable one, which will undoubtedly improve the lives of not only women and girls but entire…

Secretary General: In attention to our mandate to lead a process of climate finance mobilization; we carefully identified and discussed each of the challenges preventing financing from reaching the most vulnerable and embarked on a thorough process of assessment of existing and new initiatives.  I am therefore pleased to report a few of our main achievements: We collectively encouraged all MDBs to scale-up climate finance ambition from project inception to project delivery, increase finance for adaptation, offer more guarantee instruments, increase private sector leverage and accelerate the deployment of more innovative financing instruments; We advocated with donor countries for an ambitious replenishment of the Green Climate Fund. Just moments before this briefing we wrapped up a luncheon with over 45 countries, both donor and beneficiaries; and I am confident that as a result new ambitious announcements will be made tomorrow; We provided the necessary space for the private sector to be part of this conversation, which generated momentum in the development of strong private sector led initiatives to properly align their investments with the Paris Agreement; We have encouraged four of the most promising initiatives* tackling different aspects of the project value chain, to develop and pilot a collaborative framework for technical assistance,…

Colleague Heads of State and Government, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen. I wish to start by thanking Prime Minister Solberg for her leadership on matters of The Blue Economy, Ocean Health, and Climate Change. This has manifested in the work of the High Level Panel which is making great strides in delivering on its mandate to “develop, catalyse and support solutions for Ocean health and wealth, in policy, governance, technology and finance, which are critical to development and sustainability.” It is also important to acknowledge the work of the secretariat from the World Resources Institute and the many experts who have committed to: the development of the Blue Papers, the Report before us today, and; indeed, what will ultimately constitute the final report consolidating the work of this Panel.  As it continues to examine the issues of Climate Change, Illegal Unreported & Unregulated (IUU) Fishing and Fishing Subsidies, the Panel has determined that these are areas critical to Ocean Health. I wish also to acknowledge and thank the members of the Panel however, for agreeing with Jamaica’s call to expand the scope of work, and to establish a working group to examine “Leadership & Action on Sustainable Tourism”. For many SIDS,…

Colleagues, the global financing system requires an immediate transformation. It must be science-based; technically appropriate; transparent and supported by accurate and inclusive tracking methodologies. Let us look at some of these system fixes: The PACTA Risk scenario analysis tools already applied by over 600 financial institutions worldwide, could be adopted by private investors to align their portfolios with the Paris Agreement. The Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures should be used to better inform investors on climate-related financial risk. Yesterday, the Principles of Responsible Banking were adopted by over 130 banks from over 45 countries, representing more than $47 trillion in assets. In addition, 42 major central banks and supervisory authorities have come together under the Network for Greening the Financial System. We encourage increased global participation in this valuable framework. We applaud the private sector-led Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment, which seeks to address pricing and re-distribution of climate risk. Jamaica looks forward to being one of the first countries to pilot this initiative. On the public sector side, the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action is actively promoting increased application of fiscal policy measures in public finance.  Jamaica has joined this coalition of expert practitioners, which will…