CARICOM to get help from Japan

Japan has pledged to help CARICOM nations during the economic crisis.

The promise came during a meeting of Foreign Ministers in Tokyo.

Jamaica is being represented at the talks by Dr. Ken Baugh, Deputy Prime Minister.

This was only the second Japan-CARICOM Ministerial-Level Conference, the first was held in 2000.

Analysts in Tokyo say Japan aims to deepen economic and other cooperation with Caribbean nations to win their support for its bid to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council and seek their understanding of Japan's position as a whaling nation.

Japanese news agencies report that Caribbean countries asked for Japan's assistance to recover from the financial crisis.

Japan said it would dispatch a joint public-private economic mission to discover potential business opportunities in the financial and tourism sectors of the region.

The two sides also agreed to cooperate in supporting quake-hit Haiti and in tackling climate change.