JAMAICAN AMBASSADOR TO BELGIUM PAYS COURTESY CALL ON MINISTER PICKERSGILL

From left to right: Permanent Secretary, Dr. Alwin Hales; Principal Finance Officer, Mr. Altius Williams; Minister Robert Pickersgill.

Mrs. Marcia Gilbert-Roberts, Jamaica's ambassador to Belgium, paid a courtesy call on Minister Robert Pickersgill at his Maxfield Road Offices on Tuesday, June 26.

The Ambassador who departs for Belgium on June 30, 2007, used the opportunity to discuss matters pertaining to the relationship between Jamaica and Belgium. To that end, the assistance of the Belgian with respect to the construction of the Half Way Tree Transport Centre and the acquisition of buses for use in the JUTC service were widely discussed. The Centre which was 91% complete at the end of May, is being funded substantially by the Government and people of Belgium. Jamaica has also benefited from the acquisition of a variety of buses from Belgium, the most recent batch of fifty arriving in the island earlier this year.

Mrs. Gilbert-Roberts' posting to Belgium will be for a period of between three and four years and she will serve the countries of Luxembourg, France, Ireland as well as the European Union.

She said that she was looking forward to her tour of duties and hoped to make a difference. "I put out everything wherever I go with whatever I have," she asserted.

For his part, Minister Pickersgill wished her a positive and meaningful tour of duty, noting that she would be a prime candidate for assisting in the expansion of relations between Jamaica and the countries she will represent in Europe.

Present at the meeting with her were, Permanent Secretary, Dr. Alwin Hales, Chief Adviser to the Minister, Ms. Maureen Webber; Principal Finance Officer, Mr. Altius Williams and Senior Director, Policy Planning and Evaluation, Mrs. Elsa-May Binns.