A LEADING official in America's State Department is projecting that there will be no major change in that country's policy towards Jamaica, no matter who wins Tuesday's presidential election.

Velia De Pirro, director of the office of Caribbean affairs in the US State Department says Senators Barack Obama and John McCain have both expressed a willingness to continue the present policy towards the region.

According to Pirro, while there are big differences between Senators Obama and McCain in foreign and economic policy and other issues, their statements on the Caribbean and the western hemisphere share certain fundamentals.

"Promoting democracy, good governance and working together against transnational crime and terrorism," Pirro told journalists in Kingston yesterday.

She said while there may be a shift in emphasis, the US was not going to stop supporting the Caribbean in key areas.

Security issues

"Our interest in the Caribbean is based on us as a country, not on who the president is or which party is in power, because our security depends on your security.

"When we call it (the Caribbean) the third border, it really is our third border and that doesn't change," Pirro said.

Pirro's comments came days after a group of local academics and theologians warned that foreign aid and foreign direct investment from the US could dry up after the presidential election.

Among those expressing concern was Densil Williams, lecturer in the Department of Management Studies at the University of the West Indies, Mona, who argued that the victor will have to seek to stimulate domestic demand.

"In doing that, it simply means that there will have to be a lot of spending to keep jobs at home. The implication is that there will be a slowdown of foreign direct investments, especially to small economies like ours," Williams said.

He was supported by Dr John Rapley, president of the Caribbean Policy Research Institute, who argued that the Caribbean would not be a priority for the victor.