Industry leaders, international experts, traders and exporters will join the Ministry of Industry and Investment and border regulatory agencies for a trade forum next Wednesday (March 15).

The forum will be held at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Regional Headquarters and will explore the current issues affecting trade locally, regionally, and internationally, as well as provide a forecast for future trade. The topic to be discussed is ‘Facilitating Competitive, Safe and Secure Cross-border Trade: What will it take?’.

To set the stage, representatives from Kingston Freeport Terminal, Shipping Association of Jamaica and Whiteshield Partners, a leading public policy advisory group, will chart the picture of where the opportunities are for the development of Jamaica as a logistics hub and what it will take to deliver it.

Discussion at three sessions

The first session will examine areas such as logistic operations at seaports and airports, including logistic services, local and regional connectivity, as well as trading to and/or from special economic zones.

The topic of attracting value-added activities towards the optimisation of Jamaica as a logistics hub will also be discussed. Jeffery Hall, chairman of Kingston Wharves Limited, will moderate the second session, which will focus on how current barriers to trade in Jamaica and market access can be tackled.

The private sector and border regulatory agencies will discuss this issue and look at solutions, while international partners will also look at market access issues and opportunities. In session three, ‘Supporting Stakeholders for Effective Compliance’, the emphasis will be on identifying the public- and private-sector training and capacity-building needs to improve the degree and simplicity of compliance.

For the closing session, Dr Parris Lyew-Ayee Jnr, vice-president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ); Shullette Cox, president of Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO); and the State Minister in the Ministry of Industry Dr Norman Dunn will summarise the recommendations coming out of the discussions and make a call to action for the partners going forward.

The forum will be facilitated by the Trade Facilitation Programme Office, with the support of the Foundation for Competitiveness Programme.