Gareth Manning, Sunday Gleaner reporter

From left: Harold Mignott, Marlon Hill, Valerie Beckley, Sharon Abrahams and Philip Mascoll members of the Jamaica Diaspora Advisory Board speak at a meeting at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel last year. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

CRIME AND violence is heading a list of pressing issues to be discussed at the third Biennial Jamaican Diaspora Conference which opens tomorrow at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.

The country's spiralling crime rate of over 700 murders since January 2008 continues to tarnish its image abroad, and this, coupled with the crimes against returning residents worry the diaspora community, particularly in North America and the United Kingdom.

opening day

Given these pressing concerns, the country's top security chiefs - National Security Minister Colonel Trevor MacMillan and Police Commissioner Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin will make presentations on the opening day of the conference. Justice Hugh Small will round off the day with an address on Jamaica's ailing justice system. University of the West Indies professor, Anthony Harriott will act as facilitator for the workshop on crime and justice.

Other workshops will focus on the education sector, as well as the role of the Church in encouraging social cohesion and national development. There will also be discussions tackling the economy and investment.

speakers include

Among the speakers are Education Minister Andrew Holness; executive director of the Mona School of Business, Professor Neville Ying and University of Technology president, Errol Morrison. Industry and Commerce Minister Karl Samuda will speak on the economy and investment. That session will be moderated by Pan Caribbean Financial Services' CEO, Donovan Perkins.

The conference which has its first staging in 2006 is a think-tank that brings together Jamaicans from five regions of the world - Africa, Canada, Central America, the United States and the United Kingdom. A number of initiatives have, been borne out of the conference including the formation of trade councils in New Jersey, Los Angeles and Minnesota. The purpose of the councils is to promote trade and investment opportunities in Jamaica within the respective diaspora country.