Above: Jamaica Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has arrived in Beijing for a five-day official visit to China.

Simpson Miller’s visit comes after a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the latter’s visit to Trinidad and Tobago in July.

The trip will include meetings with Xi and Premier Li Keqiang, according to a Jamaican government statement.

Simpson Miller is leading a Jamaican delegation including Foreign Minister AJ Nicholson; Environment Minister Robert Pickersgill; Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister Onika Miller; Special Envoy and Chief Advisor to the Prime Minister Dr Carlton Davis and “members of her security detail,” the government said.

China has long been an investor in Jamaican projects, and Simpson Miller will also be holding talks with the leadership of the China EXIM Bank and the China Development Bank.

The visit is “very, very important in cementing important relationships and in ensuring that certain (business) matters, which have been on the way, can be taken further at the highest level,” said Ralph Thomas, Jamaica’s Ambassador to China.

Simpson Miller is being joined on the trip by a small delegation from the Jamaican private sector that will attend a business forum Friday.