NO RIFT BETWEEN JAMAICA AND THE US - MFAFT

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Senator the Honourable Kamina Johnson Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade has taken note of an article on the front page of the September 17, 2018 edition of The Gleaner, under the heading: “Growing rift between US, Ja”.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith says the media must be cognizant of the sensitive nature of foreign affairs and be aware that erroneous and incendiary statements do nothing to further the interest of Jamaica.

“There is no rift between the United States of America.” She said, “We are currently in consultation with the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada – the three principal partners with which we collaborate on regional security matters – to address legal issues raised in relation to certain information sharing arrangements.”

The consultations have been undertaken in a spirit of friendship and mutual respect, with a view to ensuring that we can effectively undertake the operations to which we have jointly committed. The length of the consultations is a function of the importance of the discussions and the desire by all parties to conclude on satisfactory grounds.

Additionally, the article purports that, “there has been no official word from the Government on the imbroglio…” The Minister noted as regrettable that the author of the article had not taken the time to seek advice on the matter directly from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, which has responsibility for relations with third countries. She said, “We would have been able to advise that the status of consultations on the process of cooperation with the United States on this matter can in no way be described as a rift between the parties.” It should also be noted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade has direct custody of the matter not the Office of the Prime Minister as claimed by the article.

The Minister also asked that where there is interest in such a matter by the media, that they contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for official comment from the Government of Jamaica.

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