The Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) and the Mona School of Business (MSB), UWI, have joined forces to host, “Trade Connections: Your Link to the World”, a special symposium on the evolving international trade arena, on Wednesday, July 14. The symposium will be held at the Knutsford Court Hotel, Ruthven Road, Kingston from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Keynote opening speaker will be the Honourable K.D. Knight, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade who will address “International Negotiations and the Prospects for Caribbean Businesses.” Chairman of the PSOJ’s Trade Committee, Earl Jarrett says “the symposium is the first in a series of high impact, participatory sessions which the committee will be staging for the business community over the coming year”. This is with a view to acquainting them with developments in global trade, as well as the challenges and opportunities for doing business under the new dispensations which are to come into effect in the near future. The sessions are aimed at business people in all sectors, the academic and the farming/agricultural communities. Important topics to be discussed during the symposium include CARICOM’s Trade Policy; CARICOM’s Bilateral Arrangements; Trade in Services; Market Access and Liberalizing Trade in Agriculture: Threat or Opportunity. The symposium is slated to attract several luminaries in their fields from across the region including representatives from government, business and industry who will present the various topics. Neville Ying, Professor of Business Development and Director of the Labour Studies Unit at the MSB said that the MSB welcomes this further strengthening of the partnership with the PSOJ as it is vital in ensuring that the MSB remains current with issues of relevance to the region’s business community and allows it to be on the cutting edge of programme delivery in today’s fast changing trade environment.