Jamaica is aiming to replicate India’s success in digital payments, leveraging New Delhi’s technological advancements in the sector, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said Thursday during his first official visit to India.
In a roundtable discussion with officials from the Digital India Foundation and policymakers, Holness explored the architecture necessary to support his country’s ambitions to become a digital society. Jamaica has already established a national identification system similar to India’s Aadhaar, a key component of its digital infrastructure.
“Jamaica has made it a development goal to become a digital society,” Holness said in an interview with PTI. “We’re looking to develop strong partnerships with Indian technology, particularly in public infrastructure and the unified payment interface (UPI).”
The roundtable focused on how India’s digital public infrastructure and UPI can help Jamaica transition into a digital economy. An agreement for cooperation on digital public infrastructure and linking payment systems was signed during the visit.
“We hope to move quickly, but building partnerships is the first phase,” the Prime Minister said.
Holness praised India for its innovation, calling the country diverse yet unified. “India is doing an amazing job, and Jamaica wants to partner with India in these areas,” he said.
Beyond digital payments, Jamaica is also seeking increased collaboration with India in healthcare, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, security, defence, and technology. During his visit, Jamaica joined the Global Biofuels Alliance, recognising its importance for energy security and climate change.
With passion for cricket binding the two nations, the Prime Minister hoped for greater collaboration with world's biggest cricketing nation, India will help bring back the lost glory for the post in the Island nation. The same was also true for athletics.
"So we have signed MoU on sports we will be collaborating with India to help developing your runners as well," he said.
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