Above: Jamaican PM Portia Simpson Miller
By the Caribbean Journal staff
Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller met with the staff of Jamaica’s new embassy in the capital of Brasilia this week, ahead of the Rio+20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
The embassy, which was set up in May, is led by Ambassador Alison Stone Roofe. It is set to open officially at a later date. The government has not yet disclosed when.
According to a statement from Simpson Miller’s office, the decision to establish an embassy in Brazil is part of Jamaica’s strategy deepen relations within the hemisphere, and particularly Brazil, one of the world’s emerging economies.
Simpson Miller’s office said Jamaica has been forging investment and other trade links with Brazil, particularly in the area of processing ethanol, a derivative of sugar cane.
Brazil is the world’s second-largest producer of ethanol fuel. Brazilian cars almost exclusively run on a blend of gasoline and ethanol.
The Prime Minister arrived in Rio de Janeiro Tuesday night.