The Joint Contingency Training Exercise is being hosted by the Government of Jamaica, in partnership with the Canadian Government and will run until April 26.

“This will be a Jamaican-led joint exercise with Caricom partners and supported by the Government of Canada via the Canadian Armed Force,” the Jamaica Defense Force (JDF) said in a release, adding that the exercise is expected to further enhance the preparations of designated Caricom nations’ security forces for possible multi-national security operations within the Caribbean region.

During the exercise, service personnel from the JDF, Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), Royal Bahamas Defense Force, and Belize Defense Force integrate into a Caricom Joint Task Force construct to train, plan and conduct a wide range of scenario-driven security-based activities.

The cohort includes over 60 service personnel from The Bahamas, who arrived in the island on March 29, while the contingent from Belize arrived in Jamaica on March 30.

JDF said the integrated activity is the culmination of eight months of parallel training and coordination activities that have taken place across the region, with the significant support of the governments of Canada and the United States of America.

“Ex Trogon Shield is yet another demonstration of this robust partnership between Canada and the nations of the region,” JDF said.