Marks welcomes Obama’s signing of US-C’bean legislation

By Michelle Nurse On Dec 19, 2016

Ranking member of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs Congressman Eliot Engel greets Jamaica’s Ambassador to the United States Audrey Marks on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. (Photo via Derrick Scott, Jamaica Observer) — Ranking member of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs Congressman Eliot Engel greets Jamaica’s Ambassador to the United States Audrey Marks on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. **(Photo via Derrick Scott, Jamaica Observer)**

[su_pullquote align=”right”]”We urge CARICOM to seize the opportunity to put in place a team to examine the new Law and to craft a multi-year strategy that will allow us to increase engagement with the United States in areas of mutual concern.” – Ambassador Audrey Marks [/su_pullquote]KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica’s Ambassador to the United States Audrey Marks has welcomed US President Barack Obama’s signing into law of the recently passed United States-Caribbean Strategic Engagement Act (HR 4939), aimed at strengthening the United States’ engagement with the Caribbean.

Marks, in a statement Monday, said Obama’s signing of the new law comes at a significant time for the region, which is facing a correspondent banking crisis with an increasing number of US banks disengaging with the region, because of new rules and security concerns.

With the signing of the new Act, the way is now clear for the US Secretary of State and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to devise a multi-year strategy on issues of critical concern to the region, such as security, energy, diplomacy and increased access to educational opportunities, she added in the statement.