UPDATE: CARICOM Chair engages Diaspora in South Africa

Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, Prime Minister of Jamaica, hosted a Town Hall Meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa on Thursday where he engaged in robust informative exchanges with Jamaican and CARICOM nationals.

Prime Minister Holness is in South Africa to attend the 10th BRICS Summit that began 25 July. It concludes on 28 July. He was specially invited to attend and participate in his capacity as Chair of the Community.

#CARICOMOrg Chair to attend BRICS Summit in South Africa @AndrewHolnessJM @kaminajsmith @caricomorg https://t.co/JhG0g13i0N

— CARICOM (@CARICOMorg) July 20, 2018

BRICS is the acronym for the group of countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The Jamaica Observer reported that the Prime Minister told his audience that there was significant room for cooperation between the BRICS states and the Caribbean Region because of mutual understanding of the issues.

According to the online edition of the newspaper, Prime Minister Holness said that such cooperation could probably have a greater sympathetic ear from world leaders towards supporting the development of small economies that are battling issues such as climate change, de-risking, among other things.

“We didn’t create this whole business of climate change, our economies don’t create the carbon footprints like others but our economies could be wiped out,” the newspaper said, quoting PM Holness.