PIOJ Annual Report 2005 - Planning Institute of Jamaica

R E P O R T 2 0 0 5
Leila Palmer (left front row), Director of External Cooperation Management Division Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), sits along with a
cross section of the Institute’s International Development Partners and staff, during the launch of the “Millennium Development Goals – A
Latin American and Caribbean Perspective”, held on September 13, 2005.
training and agreement was reached with the Department
for International Development (DFID) of the United
Kingdom for debt relief amounting to £6.2 million
($684.5 million).
Collaboration continued with the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID) and
DFID in the formulation of their country strategy programmes
which began implementation during the year.
USAID will focus on health, education, community development
and the environment, while DFID’s assistance will
support public sector modernization and security.
The fifteenth anniversary of the dispatch of Japan
Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) to Jamaica was
celebrated with displays islandwide and the visit of Mr.
Masaki Otsuka, Director General of JOCV based in
Tokyo. A total of 21 Japanese Volunteers and Experts were
dispatched to Jamaica for two years and 22 Jamaicans
received short-term training in Japan in the areas of health,
information technology, engineering and agriculture.
Fifty-two scholarships were awarded by the governments
of Cuba, India and Mexico for study in various disciplines
and at the Jamaica/Cuba Joint Commission in
May, plans were effected for further collaboration in the
areas of health, education, transportation, science and
technology.
European Union (EU)
The Division serves as the Office of the National
Authorizing Officer (NAO) and is charged with responsibility
for the execution of the Cooperation Programme
with the European Union, consisting of 21 projects
totalling €194.1 million ($15.0 billion) in grant resources.
The Government signed two Financing Agreements,
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