THIS DAY IN OUR PAST

The following events took place on May 2 in the years identified:

1975: Agreement is reached by the Commonwealth Heads of Government on the proposal to set up a committee of Commonwealth experts to study the question of a new world economic order and to come up with recommendations to be presented to the Commonwealth body. This consensus on the principal subject before the meeting is enunciated by the chairman, Michael Manley, prime minister of Jamaica, and accepted by the Heads of Government and leaders of delegations in session at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston. Conference sources see this decision as a victory for the Commonwealth Caribbean which, through Forbes Burnham, prime minister of Guyana, put forward the proposal for the setting up of the committee of experts in his presentation on the subject of a new world economic order at the conference session.

1984: A new-look Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), with high-powered, top-level executives, is formed, as the PSOJ prepares itself to take over the role of the private sector being the front engine of growth in the economy and to make an impact on national life. Announcement of the restructuring of the PSOJ is made by the president, Sam Mahfood, at a news conference at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel.

1995: Jamaica will host 150 delegates attending the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) annual general meeting – a special occasion since 1995 marks the bank’s 25th anniversary. On the agenda for the meeting of the board is additional loan financing for Jamaica. At a press briefing held at the Wyndham Hotel, reporters are told that the two-day conference, to be held May 11-12, 1995, is estimated to cost J$8 million. Half will be paid by the CDB, and the Jamaican Government with private sector contributions will pay the difference.