WE HAVE NOTED with great interest the announcement by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller of her intent to take to Parliament plans for a mechanism to give, as we understand it, policy weight to ideas and suggestions coming from Jamaicans who live abroad. The Prime Minister unveiled her proposal at the second Jamaica Diaspora Conference which was held in Kingston last week, continuing the Government's efforts of creating a greater connection between Jamaicans who live on this island and the estimated 2.5 million who live elsewhere in the world.
We believe that deepening this relationship and, ultimately, creating a sort of Greater Jamaica, is a good thing. Indeed, Jamaicans who live in the United States, Canada, Britain and other countries, annually remit an estimated US$1.5 billion. That is a more than a fair bit of money, being roughly equivalent to the country's gross earnings from tourism.
While this level of remittance is of itself important enough for those of us on the island to pay attention to the views of Jamaicans living abroad, we insist that there are other, equally profound imperatives, which should drive us in this direction. The Jamaican remittance, in relative terms, is among the highest in the world, highlighting the commitment those who go abroad feel to their country and family on the 'mainland.' The question is, how, over the medium to long term, do we move beyond remittances, which cannot continue in perpetuity at current per capita levels.
Indeed, as was noted at last week's conference, immigration policies in developed countries will make outward immigration from countries like Jamaica increasingly difficult. And it is natural that the further removed in generation those Jamaicans living abroad become from family living at home, the more tenuous will be their relationship with the island - unless we consciously build the systems to foster this.
This becomes important if we begin to view Jamaican communities abroad as part of the national environment and expansion of our domestic space. They are, in this context, an extension of the home market, sources of investment capital and, if utilised correctly, important political poles, acting as vanguards in the protection of Jamaica's interests. The challenge is for us to create mechanisms that advance the national interest, without compromising a balance of power between the two groups of Jamaicans and for those who live abroad, their legitimate interests in the issues of their host communities.
In that regard, we look forward to how Prime Minister Simpson Miller fleshes out her idea for the Diaspora Board, which she will ask Parliament to fully shape and approve as well as the mechanism for giving Senate places to Jamaicans in the Diaspora, which now appears to have the backing of the Government and Opposition. In the meantime, the continued engagement between Jamaicans at home and those abroad is critical.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
