Caption: File photo- The Republic of Korea hands over medical supplies to Jamaica in April 2021. The donation was received by the Minister of Health and Wellness, the Dr. the Hon, Christopher Tufton and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Sen. The Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade has expressed surprise and concern about an article in the print media quoting an official from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) expressing disappointment regarding the status of a proposed cooperation agreement with Jamaica.
The Ministry advises that the Governments of Jamaica and the Republic of Korea enjoy excellent relations, which were reaffirmed by Foreign Ministers Park Jin and Kamina Johnson Smith during their bilateral meeting on May 12th, only three weeks ago, where the issue did not arise.
The Ministry states that draft agreements such as the one in question are never signed immediately as they undergo review, not only by the relevant departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, including its Legal Department, but also by the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, the Planning Institute of Jamaica and other Ministries, Departments and Agencies, as necessary. Furthermore, the Foreign Ministry is always available for engagement on matters of this nature.
In this case, the draft was received on March 29th and sent for review on March 30th and March 31st. Comments from the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service recommended that additional Ministries also provide feedback, and requests for their input have been made with responses awaited. This process is not unusual for any country, regardless of the significance of the cooperation being offered.
In fact, in this instance, to ensure ongoing attention to the matter, the Ministry took the unusual step of communicating its internal legal feedback, as well as that of the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service and the Planning Institute of Jamaica, to the Korean Foreign Ministry, even though other comments were still pending.
The Ministry will continue to follow up with the remaining Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) which had promised responses for this week.
Additionally, the Ministry will continue to advance the excellent work with our Korean partners.
