President of the American Chamber of Commerce of Jamaica (AMCHAM), Ann-Dawn Young Sang, is inviting United States (US) investors to look to Jamaica.

Young Sang said the country’s various competitive advantages – its near-shore offerings with being approximately 90 minutes from the closest US border, its strong services industry, dynamic marketplace and rigorous implementation of various coronavirus (COVID-19) protocols, among other things, make the island ripe for business.

“We have all been impacted by COVID-19 and we will be feeling its effects for some time to come. We must look ahead and plan for the future. This is an opportune time for us to work together to further the US-Jamaica economic and commercial partnership,” she said.

She was speaking at the Caribbean Region Virtual Trade Mission and Networking event hosted by AMCHAM on December 1.

Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Audley Shaw, in his address,said Jamaica’s digital global services industry is targeted for growth of 20 per cent over the next four years.

He said that areas of opportunities in this sector include applications development and maintenance, mobile website development, marketing analytics, digital manufacturing, cognitive business operations, digital engineering and big data analytics.

Shaw said focus is also being placed on growing the country’s agricultural sector through modernisation and diversification.

“This will be done through the introduction of modern best practices that will improve the skill sets of our workers, reduce our operational costs and revamp the whole agricultural environment for businesses to operate, as well as to step up the value chain with an aggressive agro-industry sector,” he noted.

Shaw said the concept paper for the National Services Policy and Implementation Plan has been approved by Cabinet.

“We are moving full speed ahead to develop this policy, as it will allow us to better access regional and global markets to push our trade to services in areas such as health, the creative and financial industries, among others,” he pointed out.

The Caribbean Region Virtual Trade Mission and Networking event involved partnership with the United States Department of Commerce’s Commercial Service and the United States Embassy in Jamaica.

The event, aimed at promoting investment opportunities in Jamaica as well as outlining the country’s economic response to COVID-19, was held ahead of the US Department of Commerce’s trade and markets mission in May 2021. The trade and markets mission is expected to bring more than 100 US companies to the Caribbean to explore opportunities with regional companies.

JIS