Prime Minister Bruce Golding will head delegations to Peru and England on a 10-day tour starting today.

Golding will be in the Peruvian capital Lima from May 15-17 for the fifth European Union, Latin American and the Caribbean summit.

From there, he will be joined by other government officials and will head to London for meetings with the Jamaican diaspora from May 18-25.

Aim of summit

The Peru summit is aimed at strengthening strategic partnership between the two regions based on mutual respect, common values, economic, political, cultural, historical and human ties.

The overall objective of the summit will be to increase trade between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean.

The summit will tackle the areas of poverty, inequality and inclusion, as part of the social dimension and sustainable deve-lopment; climate change, environment and energy, as part of the environmental dimension.

Itinerary and entourage

Accompanying Golding to Peru will be Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Dr Kenneth Baugh, as well as ambassadors and aides.

Minister of Industry, Investments and Commerce, Karl Samuda, and Dr Ronald Robinson, junior foreign affairs minister, will join the prime minister in London.

Golding will be paying a courtesy call on Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday, May 20 to be followed by a community meeting of Jamaicans living in the south and south east regions of London.

Other community meetings will be held in Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham and Brixton.

The PM will return to the island on May 25. Minister of Finance Audley Shaw will be in charge of the government from May 15-17, while Baugh will deputise when he returns from Peru.