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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>'I'm sorry,' PM tells Europe</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline>J'can leader to reschedule cancelled visit</SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>
Friday, October 27, 2006
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<P class=StoryText align=justify>PRIME Minister Portia Simpson Miller yesterday worked the phones between Kingston and the European capitals of Brussels and Rome, expressing regret for any inconvenience caused by her last-minute cancellation of a visit to the continent.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=150 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>SIMPSON MILLER. went ahead with Washington visit </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>A Jamaica House statement also explained that Simpson Miller, because of matters requiring her attention, had decided Monday afternoon to adjust the European leg of a scheduled overseas visit which also included a trip to Washington, DC.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"The prime minister... personally extended sincere regrets to the European Commission president, the Pope, the Pio Manzu International Research Centre and the Government and the people of Italy for the inconvenience which the late change in her travel plans may have caused," a statement from Jamaica House confirmed.<P class=StoryText align=justify>At the same time, Cabinet Secretary Dr Carlton Davis came out in support of Simpson Miller, saying: "I do not know what other reasons may have influenced the prime minister's decision, but I know of one, in which I am intimately involved, that is of immediate importance to the development of this country and on which she has to be 'on the ground', here in the Caribbean, to help us deal with."
Davis did not give any specifics of the activity in which he was intimately involved.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Both statements were in response to an Observer lead story Thursday quoting impeccable sources as saying that the prime minister's last-minute cancellation of a second courtesy call on her by the European Commission's president, Jose Manuel Barroso, had gone down badly in Brussels.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"The European Union feels very slighted because it regards Jamaica as an important partner and the president was looking forward to meeting her," the source told the Observer.
Simpson Miller was set to meet the EU president yesterday, as part of a planned visit to Europe, Jamaica's biggest aid donor at J$44.4 billion over 31 years.
But at the 11th hour, Jamaica's ambassador to Brussels, Evadne Coye, notified Barroso's office that the prime minister was unable to keep the appointment because of an unspecified "family health emergency".<P class=StoryText align=justify>The Observer sources said it was the second time that the prime minister was cancelling Barroso, following her aborted meeting in May this year when they were scheduled to attend a summit of heads of government from the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean in Vienna, Austria.
The summit was attended by leaders, including French President Jacques Chirac; Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair; Barbadian Prime Minister Owen Arthur; Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo and Grenada's Keith Mitchell, among others.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Jamaica House insisted that the Observer's story was "an inaccurate and incomplete account of the facts", saying that the PM "did not 'slight' the European Commission president or, indeed, any other dignitary with whom she was scheduled to meet".<P class=StoryText align=justify>It denied, too, that Simpson Miller had called off the visit because of any family health emergency as reported by the Observer, or that the notification by Ambassador Coye had been sent by e-mail. The message was sent "through t
<SPAN class=Subheadline>J'can leader to reschedule cancelled visit</SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>
Friday, October 27, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>PRIME Minister Portia Simpson Miller yesterday worked the phones between Kingston and the European capitals of Brussels and Rome, expressing regret for any inconvenience caused by her last-minute cancellation of a visit to the continent.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=150 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>SIMPSON MILLER. went ahead with Washington visit </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>A Jamaica House statement also explained that Simpson Miller, because of matters requiring her attention, had decided Monday afternoon to adjust the European leg of a scheduled overseas visit which also included a trip to Washington, DC.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"The prime minister... personally extended sincere regrets to the European Commission president, the Pope, the Pio Manzu International Research Centre and the Government and the people of Italy for the inconvenience which the late change in her travel plans may have caused," a statement from Jamaica House confirmed.<P class=StoryText align=justify>At the same time, Cabinet Secretary Dr Carlton Davis came out in support of Simpson Miller, saying: "I do not know what other reasons may have influenced the prime minister's decision, but I know of one, in which I am intimately involved, that is of immediate importance to the development of this country and on which she has to be 'on the ground', here in the Caribbean, to help us deal with."Davis did not give any specifics of the activity in which he was intimately involved.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Both statements were in response to an Observer lead story Thursday quoting impeccable sources as saying that the prime minister's last-minute cancellation of a second courtesy call on her by the European Commission's president, Jose Manuel Barroso, had gone down badly in Brussels.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"The European Union feels very slighted because it regards Jamaica as an important partner and the president was looking forward to meeting her," the source told the Observer.
Simpson Miller was set to meet the EU president yesterday, as part of a planned visit to Europe, Jamaica's biggest aid donor at J$44.4 billion over 31 years.
But at the 11th hour, Jamaica's ambassador to Brussels, Evadne Coye, notified Barroso's office that the prime minister was unable to keep the appointment because of an unspecified "family health emergency".<P class=StoryText align=justify>The Observer sources said it was the second time that the prime minister was cancelling Barroso, following her aborted meeting in May this year when they were scheduled to attend a summit of heads of government from the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean in Vienna, Austria.
The summit was attended by leaders, including French President Jacques Chirac; Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair; Barbadian Prime Minister Owen Arthur; Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo and Grenada's Keith Mitchell, among others.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Jamaica House insisted that the Observer's story was "an inaccurate and incomplete account of the facts", saying that the PM "did not 'slight' the European Commission president or, indeed, any other dignitary with whom she was scheduled to meet".<P class=StoryText align=justify>It denied, too, that Simpson Miller had called off the visit because of any family health emergency as reported by the Observer, or that the notification by Ambassador Coye had been sent by e-mail. The message was sent "through t