Capital and Credit Merchant Bank

WISYNCO Trading Limited

Jamaica Mortgage Bank

Jamaica Producers Group Limited

It is said that no man is an island. In our case it can also be said that our island is not a nation because the Jamaican community stretches across oceans and continents and can be found in virtually every corner of the world.

For generations Jamaicans have traveled in search of better opportunities. They have settled predominantly in the United Kingdom and North America and today constitute a sizeable population in these areas including third, fourth and fifth generations of overseas-based Jamaicans. Yet, despite the geographical and generational differences the vast majority remains committed to their homeland, its people and its culture.

In a real sense, those who left our shores have never really left home and many of those who were born abroad regard Jamaica as their home. This commitment is reflected in so many ways - the frequency with which they return to Jamaica, the level of financial resources remitted for investment and to support their families and the passion with which they identify with and promote the cause of Jamaica. They are the real ambassadors of Jamaica and much of the strength of Jamaica's image in important councils and marketplaces of the world is due to their efforts.

I therefore welcome the initiative to convene a conference on the Jamaican Diaspora to strengthen the bonds that exist between Jamaicans at home and those abroad. I hope that this conference will go a far way in structuring that relationship so that it can become the powerful developmental tool that it has so much potential to be.

I trust, too, that the conference will involve more than simply finding ways to tap into the vast resources held by Jamaicans overseas. We must make every effort to encourage them to invest in Jamaica and to facilitate their contribution in every possible way to Jamaica's development. But they want and deserve much more. We must develop an appropriate institutional framework in which they can be integrally involved in the social and political life of our country. The experiences they have acquired can be of immense value in improving the quality of governance and the relationships between the people and their government and among the people themselves.

I welcome those overseas-based Jamaicans who will be attending the conference and I wish the conference itself every possible success. Let it be the start of something new and a positive step in the recognition that ours is a nation that exceeds our island shores.