Jamaica has diplomatic relations with most nations and is a member of the United Nations and the Organization of American States. In the follow-on meetings to the December 1994 Summit of the Americas, Jamaica--together with Uruguay--was given the responsibility of coordinating discussions on invigorating society. Jamaica also chairs the Working Group on Smaller Economies. The United Nations, or UN, is an international organization established in 1945 and now made up of 191 states. ... The Organization of American States (OAS; OEA in the other three official languages) is an international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., USA. Its members are the 35 independent nations of the Americas. ... The Summit of the Americas is the name for one of a sequence of summits bringing together the countries of the Americas for discussion of a variety of issues. ...

Jamaica is an active member of the Commonwealth of Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement (G-77). Jamaica is a beneficiary of the Lome Conventions, through which the European Union (EU) grants trade preferences to selected states in Asia, the Caribbean, and the Pacific, and has played a leading role in the negotiations of the successor agreement in Fiji in 2000. Flag of the Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations is an association of independent sovereign states, most of which are former colonies once governed by the United Kingdom as part of the British Empire. ...

Historically, Jamaica has had close ties with the U.K., but trade, financial, and cultural relations with the United States are now predominant. Jamaica is linked with the other countries of the English-speaking Caribbean through the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and more broadly through the Association of Caribbean States (ACS). In January 2000, Jamaica began serving a 2-year term on the United Nations Security Council. The Caribbean Community and Common Market or CARICOM was established by the Treaty of Chaguaramas [1] which came into effect on August 1, 1973. ... The Association of Caribbean States (ACS) (Also called the Asociacion de Estados del Caribe or Association des Etats de la Caraibe) was formed with the aim of promoting consultation, cooperation, and concerted action among all the countries of the Caribbean, comprising of 25 member states and 3 associate members. ... A session of the Security Council in progress The United Nations Security Council is the most powerful organ of the United Nations. ...

Prime Minister Percival James Patterson visited Cuba at the end of May 1997. In the fall of 1997, Jamaica upgraded its consulate in Havana to an embassy, and the nonresident Jamaican ambassador to Cuba was replaced by a resident ambassador. The Right Honourable Percival Noel James Patterson (born April 10, 1935) is the current Prime Minister of Jamaica (since 1992) and is the leader of the Jamaican Peoples National Party. ...

Disputes - international: none

Illicit drugs: Transshipment point for cocaine from Central and South America to North America and Europe; illicit cultivation of cannabis; government has an active manual cannabis eradication program

A good resource about Jamaica's foreign policies is Holger Henke's book "Between Self-Determination and Dependency: Jamaica's Foreign Relations, 1972-89," Kingston: University of the West Indies Press 2000.

See also : Jamaica