Foreign Affairs

Relations between Brazil and Jamaica - fourth largest population and economy of the Caribbean - present significant importance and potential for growth. The importance of the bilateral relationship is reflected in the agenda of high-level visits. In 2007, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made the first official visit by a Brazilian Head of State to Jamaica. On the Jamaican side, there were four visits of Prime Ministers to Brazil, including one to attend the inauguration of President Dilma Rousseff on January 1st, 2011.

In June 2013, Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota met with his Jamaican counterpart, Arnold Nicholson, and took the occasion to examine the prospects for intensification of economic relations, the increase in airline connections between Brazil and the Caribbean and technical, educational and sports cooperation. The meeting also stressed the progress in political dialogue, on issues such as international organizations, racial equality and the African Diaspora. The Ministers also carried out the official opening of the Embassy of Jamaica in Brasilia. In addition to the federal capital, Nicholson also visited São Paulo, where he chaired events to attract Brazilian investment in Jamaica.

Foreign Minister Luiz Figueiredo Machado, visited Kingston for the First Brazil-Jamaica Joint Commission, in 2014. The meeting was designed as a beacon forum and promoter of this process of intensification of bilateral relations.

One of the highlights of the initiatives for cooperation between the two countries is the Brazil-Jamaica Education and Professional Training Center (HEART/SENAI), which meets the demands for skilled labour in the industrial and tourism sectors, and cooperation project in the health sector, to combat sickle cell anemia.

Chronology of Bilateral Relations

1962 – Establishment of diplomatic relations

1963 –Brazilian interests in Jamaica are represented by the Embassy of Brazil in Bogota, Colombia

1977 – Opening of the Brazilian Embassy in Jamaica, based in the capital Kingston

1982 – Signing of Memorandum of Understanding for the Development of Cooperation Programs in the Energy and Mining areas

1997 – Visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister of Jamaica to Brazil. Signing of Agreements on Technical Cooperation, Cultural and Educational Cooperation and Cooperation in Tourism

2005 – Visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Celso Amorim, to Jamaica, during which MoUs were signed in the areas of sugar and ethanol, and fruit processing

2005 – Prime Minister of Jamaica Visit to Brazil

2006 – Jamaica's Prime Minister attends the Second Conference of Intellectuals from Africa and the Diaspora, in Salvador

2007 – Visit of President Lula to Jamaica. Inauguration of ethanol dehydration plant imported from Brazil

2009 – Visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Jamaica to Brazil

2010 – Jamaican Prime Minister attends  the First Summit Brazil-Caribbean Community (CARICOM), in Brasilia, and signs Agreement for the establishment of Joint Bilateral Commission

2012 – Arrival of Ambassador Alison Stone Roofe, first Ambassador of Jamaica in Brazil

2013 – Visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Jamaica to Brazil and official opening of the Embassy of Jamaica in Brasilia

2014 – First Brazil-Jamaica Joint Commission is held in Kingston