KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, says Jamaica continues to place its people at the centre of its development strategy, with significant gains being made in improving lives and livelihoods.

Delivering Jamaica’s third Voluntary National Review (VNR) report at the seventh meeting of the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development at the UN Headquarters in New York, on July 10, the minister said that despite an increasingly unpredictable global climate, Jamaica has maintained its commitment to inclusive and sustainable development through innovative policy and financing measures that have delivered strong results.

She highlighted the implementation of economic expansion and poverty reduction programmes, which have contributed to a decline in the prevalence of poverty from 21.4 per cent in 2015 to 7.8 per cent in 2024.