Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Dr. Ronald Robinson (centre), with the newly elected Regional Chairmen of the Jamaica Diaspora Advisory Board in the USA. At left is Patrick Beckford, Northeast; Wayland Richards (third right), Midwest; and Marlon Hill (right), Southeast. Also sharing in the occasion are Jamaica's Ambassador to the US, Anthony Johnson (second left); Consul General to Miami, Richard Allicock (third left); and Consul General to New York, Geneive Brown Metzger. The election was held on the final day of the third Biennial Conference of the Jamaican Diaspora, at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston on June 17.

Chairmen for the three regions of the Jamaica Diaspora Advisory Board in the United States (US), were elected on the final day of the Third Biennial Conference of the Jamaican Diaspora, at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston on June 17.

They are attorney-at-law, Marlon Hill, who was returned unopposed for another two-year term for the Southeast region; Patrick Beckford, President of the Friends of Trelawny Association (FOTA), as head of the Northeast; and Wayland Richards, President of the Organization for Strategic Development in Jamaica, for the Midwest region.

Jamaica's Ambassador to the US, Anthony Johnson, in congratulating the new leaders, urged them to get the younger generation involved in the Diaspora Movement and to ensure that the US has the largest youth delegation to the 2010 conference.

Ambassador Johnson, who conducted the elections, challenged the delegates to explore the possibility of staging a conference in the US in 2009.

In their response, the three chairmen pledged to build on the present foundation of the movement and noted its importance to Jamaicans living abroad. Some 700 delegates from overseas attended the conference.

Derrick A. Scott
JIS, Washington DC

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