Dionne Rose, Business Reporter

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett delivering a public lecture Tuesday at the opening of CaPRI's conference on 'Cuba and Its Neighbours', held at the University of the West Indies, Mona, July 22-23. - Nathaniel Stewart/Freelance Photographer

Jamaica stands ready to assist Cuba, as a relative newcomer to Caribbean tourism, grow its hospitality business, Edmund Bartlett said Tuesday, announcing that the offer was to be formalised under an agreement with the Spanish-speaking nation.

A memorandum of understanding is to be signed in Kingston next month, but Bartlett, Jamaica's minister of tourism, said he would not want to announce the details ahead of the formalities.

The announcement came just ahead of Prime Minister Bruce Golding's declarative Wednesday that the impracticality of the United States embargo against Cuba was glaringly obvious.

"My hope is that within a short time we can see an end to the isolation of Cuba," he said Wednesday, as luncheon speaker at 'Cuba and its Neighbours: The Challenges of Change', hosted by CaPRI, a University of the West Indies think tank.

Cementing Jamaica's position

Golding at the CaPRI forum was merely cementing Jamaica's position on Cuba, having made his views known before.

The tourism pact that the tourism minister is now finalising, would be beneficial to both countries, Bartlett said Tuesday, as he addressed the opening session of the Cuba conference at Mona in Kingston.

"Against that background, I would not want to pre-empt myself in anyway and indeed to rob from my colleague minister in Cuba some of what he may want to divulge as we meet here next month in Kingston to sign and give effect to that memorandum of understanding," he said.

The cooperation agreement resulted from the visit made to Cuba by Prime Minister Bruce Golding in May.

Golding took five members of his Cabinet on the trip.

Bartlett said the two countries would be exploring the possibility of multiple-destination marketing. "This is a mechanism that enables visitors to purchase a package vacation that combines visits to both Jamaica and Cuba," he said.

The two countries already have tourism linkages, through investors in hotel properties, and the operation of tour packages.

dionne.rose@gleanerjm.com