Foreign relations of Jamaica

Jamaica is a beneficiary of the Lome Conventions, through which the European Union (EU) grants trade preferences to selected states in Asia, the Caribbean, and the Pacific, and has played a leading role in the negotiations of the successor agreement in Fiji in 2000.

[1] Disputes - international: none Illicit drugs: Transshipment point for cocaine from Central and South America to North America and Europe; illicit cultivation of cannabis; government has an active manual cannabis eradication program The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade is the government ministry responsible for handling Jamaica's external relations and foreign trade.

In the follow-on meetings to the December 1994 Summit of the Americas, Jamaica—together with Uruguay—was given the responsibility of coordinating discussions on invigorating society.

Jamaican-Canadians celebrate their island heritage through festivals held in major cities across Canada, the most recognized of which is Caribana.

Caribana is held in Toronto, Ontario every year and attracts over one million visitors to the region, many of whom fly all the way from Jamaica.

Ghana, as the former Gold Coast, and Jamaica share historical links through the slave trade and forced Ashanti/Akan emigration to the Caribbean.

In January, 2007, Haitian president René Préval, made a four-day working visit to Jamaica.

At a press conference, Jamaican prime minister Portia Simpson Miller announced that a Joint Jamaica/Haiti Commission would be convened later that year.

Both countries share common membership of the Caribbean Development Bank, the Commonwealth, the International Criminal Court, and the World Trade Organization, as well as the CARIFORUM–UK Economic Partnership Agreement.

Then-Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller attended the "Conference on the Caribbean--A 20/20 Vision" in Washington in June 2007.

Also, some 10,000 American citizens, including many dual-nationals born on the island, permanently reside in Jamaica.