Governor General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Professor Kenneth Hall, has called on influential persons and organizations in the island to join with the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) in a mass effort to push Vision 2030.

His Excellency, who was speaking at the launch of Vision 2030 at the Jamaica Conference Centre earlier this week, called for a proactive approach to be taken to the sensitization of the public to the plan, in a way that will allow people to start integrating the objectives into their daily activities. He said that conveying the message could be one of the main challenges that affect the implementation of the plan.

While noting that it is not uncommon for plans of this nature to “remain unused and underutilized” after they are launched, Professor Hall called for “a concerted effort to be made on this occasion to incorporate all the agencies, organisations and persons that have an influence in changing opinions, to become involved and to adopt this plan as a normal part of their activities.”

“I sincerely believe that this plan should be regarded as a new phase of that commitment to establish Jamaica as viable, stable independent country with the capacity to provide for its population by playing a significant role in the global economy,” he opined.

The Governor General said he hoped that the plan will be made available to youth organizations “as they are the group that will be the beneficiaries and ultimately leaders with responsibility for Vision 2030. We need to nurture them and make this plan part of their development over the next 23 years.”

Jamaica has embarked on the preparation of its first long-term strategic National Development Plan, called Vision 2030 Jamaica, which is intended to put the country on a path to achieving developed country status by the year 2030.

Leading up to March 2008, the PIOJ will launch a series of islandwide public consultations to engage stakeholders from all sectors of the society in discussion to develop a draft plan. Once completed, it will be tabled in the House of Parliament in April 2008, following which there will be further islandwide consultations, prior to finalization.

In order to achieve developed country status, Vision 2030 will give priority attention to key areas of national development such as human resources development, effective governance, environmental sustainability, gender, culture and values, health, infrastructure, international competitiveness, law and order, population, regional development, science, technology and innovation, and social protection.

The plan, which puts people at the centre of the transformation process, is based on a comprehensive vision to “make Jamaica the place of choice to live, work, raise families, and do business.”

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