JAMAICA RECEIVES GRANT OF US$90 MILLION FROM USAID

JAMAICA RECEIVES GRANT OF US$90 MILLION FROM USAID

The Government of Jamaica and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) today (Nov 20) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a grant of US $90 million to assist the country with various development programmes over the next five years.

The agreement will guide the 2010 -2014 country assistance strategy for Jamaica which addresses social and economic issues that contribute most directly to the high level of violent crime and vulnerability to transnational criminal activity. The programme covers four priority goals.

The goals are: increasing peace and security by reducing crime and corruption; promoting economic prosperity and sustainable development; investing in people so as to strengthen the quality, efficiency and equity of the primary school system; and the HIV/AIDS prevention programme.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding noted that he is extremely delighted to sign the MOU as it will authenticate and authorize the country's adaptation strategy which will be pursued jointly by the Government and USAID.

"This is only a small part of a programme of assistance that has been provided to the people of Jamaica by the US Government, USAID. It has a long history of collaborative work in Jamaica; it has been involved in several areas of development assistance."

Dr Karen Milliard, Mission Director of USAID noted that she has witnessed great successes in Jamaica in their assistance programme over the last five years.