Contributed
Pamela Coke Hamilton

Secretary General ofthe Organisation of American States (OAS), Dr. José Miguel Insulza, has named Pamela Coke Hamilton, first female and first Jamaican national, as the new director of the Department of Trade, Tourism and Competitiveness (DTTC), effective August 1.

In her new job, Pamela Coke Hamilton will seek to bolster and support the efforts of the OAS member- states to expand trade opportunities, increase competitiveness and foster economic integration throughout the Americas.

The division also focuses on tourism development, which is a crucial area of importance for the CARICOM member-states of the OAS. The department also seeks to strengthen and enhance the contribution of this critical sector to the overall regional thrust to increase employment and to realise higher and more sustainable levels of economic growth and prosperity within the Caribbean.

Mrs. Coke Hamilton currently holds the position of Principal Trade Specialist with the OAS, with specific responsibility for CARICOM trade capacity-building.

In addition, since July 2004, she has spearheaded, under a cooperative agreement between the OAS and the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, the establishment of the Masters in International Trade Policy (MITP) programme, which is now an internationally recognised programme for training of trade policy specialists.

Capacity-building exercises

She has also served as the director of the Sir Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law Policy and Services, which has conducted numerous capacity-building exercises for CARICOM member-states, including training trade policy analysts for a programme aimed at developing trade negotiating capacity within Commonwealth states.

An attorney by profession, Mrs. Coke Hamilton has had a long career in trade policy and trade negotiations at the national, regional and international levels. She previously served as a trade negotiator for the Government of Jamaica in both Geneva and Washington, and was the Free Trade Area of the Americas coordinator for CARICOM's Regional Negotiating Machinery.