The President of the 76th session of the General Assembly, H.E. Mr. Abdulla Shahid, met today with H.E Mr. Edmund Bartlett, Minister of Tourism of Jamaica.
The Minister reflected on the tough period of disruption and devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and commended the choice of the President to include recovery as a key aspect of the High-level Thematic Debate entitled “Putting sustainable and resilient tourism at the heart of an inclusive recovery.”
The Minister emphasized the importance of resilience as a tool to effectively respond to global shocks. He highlighted the work of Jamaica’s Global Resilience and Crisis Management Center as a means to use academic forecasting to predict future shocks and measure preparedness.
The President thanked the Minister for accepting his invitation to the High-level Thematic Debate. He agreed with the Minister’s point on ensuring a strong level of pandemic preparedness moving forward, especially given the vulnerability of the tourism industry to such events.
The Minister also presented the President with a signed copy of a book that consist of a series of academic essay on resilience, including one written by the Minister on the ways in which Jamaica responded to the pandemic and recovered.
The meeting took place in the office of the President of General Assembly, at the United Nations Headquarters.
New York, 4 May 2022.
