“Innovative new approaches and technological means must be used to secure sustainable mobility building on the core infrastructure for air, sea and land modes of transportation”.

This from Transport and Mining Minister Lester ‘Mike’ Henry as he addressed the UN Economic Commission for Europe’s 70th Anniversary Meeting of the Inland Transport Committee in Geneva earlier this week.

Minister Henry told the gathering of Transport Ministers that Jamaica is committed to achieving its Sustainable Development Goals through enhanced connectivity within and between territories for the safe, efficient and cost effective movement of people goods and services in a” just- in- time world”. He said new models of connectivity must be pursued and implemented and he was pleased to hear of plans for the renewal od the silk road and the multimodal solutions that are being advanced in various regions.

He also told the gathering that designing connected cities around state of the art infrastructure, is fundamental to our present and future agendas for improved mobility of people goods and services for sustainable development.

In this regard, Minister Henry highlighted the Vernamfield  Aerotropolis Development in which multimodal links of road, rail and sea are connected with advanced air-links that could accommodate the largest aircrafts. 

The Transport Minister announced that this will be complemented by an ICT infrastructure to facilitate innovation in E Commerce and Digital Trade and a logistics infrastructure to be designed for movement of goods and for production. centres.

Minister Henry said Jamaica has already secured a conducive regulatory framework through an Open Skies Policy that has resulted in agreements with many countries. 

He said the implementation of Marine Conventions and Practices has made Jamaica attractive to investors and stakeholders.