Kamina Smith shares glimpse of MC12 eve in Geneva, meets DG Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

On Saturday, June 11, 2022, Kamina Johnson Smith landed in Geneva for a critical MC 12 and came straight to the Permanent Mission to meet with Ambassador Spencer and the excellent team. 

Kamina Smith shares glimpse of MC12 eve in Geneva, meets DG Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Kamina Smith shares glimpse of MC12 eve in Geneva, meets DG Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Jamaica: Kamina Johnson Smith- Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and Jamaica’s candidature for the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, who is on her official visit to Geneva, shared a glimpse of the eve of MC 12. 

On Saturday, June 11, 2022, Kamina Johnson Smith landed in Geneva for a critical MC 12 and came straight to the Permanent Mission to meet with Ambassador Spencer and the excellent team. 

She noted that Jamaica is OACPS Coordinator within WTO, so there is a lot to get done! Her meetings started Saturday, and as in all things, preparation is key!

Kamina Johnson Smith firstly met with the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. She stated, “We discussed the importance of achieving outcomes, and it was good to note that several texts have made significant progress since our last engagement.” 

“What an immense opportunity and a pleasure to kick off an intensive week of negotiations with a welcome dinner of the Secretary-General, Ministers and Heads of Delegations of the Organisation of African, the Caribbean and the Pacific States on June 11 2022,” underlined Kamina Smith. 

During the briefing dinner, she outlined issues of top priority for the Group during the 12th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization – WTO. They were also pleased to welcome WTO DG Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, who shared her perspectives with them.

This morning Kamina Smith had the distinct pleasure of chairing their first OACPS Ministerial Coordination meeting for MC12. In the meeting, she briefed many of her counterparts from African, Pacific and Caribbean regions on the state of play of texts for consideration this week. 

Kamin Smith asserted that MC12 would work on several critical global trade issues outstanding since its postponement in 2019.

In MC 12 held in Geneva, Kamina Smith further had an energetic and fruitful meeting with Mary Ng at WTO. They discussed the strong diaspora bond between Jamaica and Canada, the importance of stronger trade and investment to increase opportunities for CARICOM, as well as the importance of WTO issues before them at MC12.

Outlining her meeting, Kamina Smith exclaimed, “I met with Jeremiah Manele, Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade of the Solomon Islands, in the margins of the 12th Ministerial Conference MC12 of the WTO currently underway in Geneva, Switzerland.” 

The Minister and she discussed SIDS issues of mutual interest, including access to financing, vulnerabilities affecting small and vulnerable economies, and climate change. She also took the opportunity to share her vision for the Commonwealth based on the six pillars.

Kamina Johnson Smith also convened a meeting ahead of MC12 thematic sessions with regional spokespersons. 

She underscored,” In my capacity as Coordinator of the OACPS in the WTO, I was pleased to convene a meeting ahead of the MC12 thematic sessions with regional spokespersons: African Group (Cameroon); CARICOM (Guyana); and the Pacific Group (Fiji). Our discussions included issues of concern for the regional groups as well as negotiating strategies.”Â