India, Jamaica Relations to Grow Faster Than Bolt: Modi

New Delhi:Prime Minister Narendra Modi told his Jamaican counterpart Andrew Holness that the bilateral ties between India and Jamaica will grow at a pace faster than legendary sprinter Usain Bolt. The two nations inked four pacts in the fields of digital and payments technology, culture and sports. Jamaica announced it would join the Global Biofuel Alliance pioneered by India and expressed happiness to be invited as a founder member of the Infrastructure for Island Resilient States (IRIS) and Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).

The small Caribbean nation will also utilise Indian expertise in boosting its national security infrastructure and border protection technologies. India will also offer training and capacity building for the Jamaican armed forces.

Describing Holness as a longstanding friend of India, Modi spoke about the 4 Cs--Culture, Cricket, Commonwealth and Caricom (Caribbean community) as four elements of immense importance in bilateral ties. He said both nations were together fighting the menace of terrorism and drug-trafficking.

Modi mentioned how the 70,000 Jamaicans of Indian origin have boosted people to people ties between the two nations. Holness thanked India for its vaccine assistance during the Covid pandemic. He also thanked India for providing technology scholarships that had benefitted many Jamaican students.