KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Jamaica’s four-day Exposition has gotten underway here, with Prime Minister Andrew Holness saying that the country must look to the export market to become rich.
Expo Jamaica 2023 is expected to attract over 18,000 visitors. Holness described the event as the “largest the expo has ever seen,” with over 200 exhibitors showcasing Jamaican products to international and local buyers.
Expo Jamaica 2023 co-Chairperson, Aswad Morgan, said more buyers represent a broader mix of countries.
In former years, most of our buyers came from the UK and the US. This year, we’re seeing buyers from Oman, Yugoslavia, and Sweden, among others,” Morgan added.
Holness told the ceremony that Jamaica would need to export to become a “rich nation.”
The Expo, hosted by the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association Limited, had been suspended over the last three years due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Holness said that he had made it a duty to attend the event over the years.
“I’ve always been fascinated by the gems that you discover are manufactured in Jamaica,” Holness said, adding, “and that is the essence of the Expo, it is to expose the productive capacity, the innovation, the ingenuity, [and] the creativity of Jamaican manufacturing.
“We are also happy that we see significant interest from our international counterparts in all areas. In distribution, retailers, hotel purchasers, potential partners in various manufacturing endeavors,” he said.
He said “several serious” international investors are visiting the Expo, some of whom have already struck business deals and are also on the island to discover other investment opportunities.
“The expo is a multi-sectoral endeavor, showcasing Jamaica’s manufacturing capabilities across various areas, whether we have primary producers, we have promising start-up businesses, whether it is faction, whether it is construction, whether it is in food, we have broad-based manufacturing industry here in Jamaica,” Holness said, adding “I’m certain that as a result of this expo and the exposure that Jamaica will get, our manufacturing will increase even greater.”
He said the “sound policies of this administration would ensure that Jamaica recovers quickly, that the consumption power lost by inflation is recovered.
“That the incomes lost by any fall-out in employment that occurred as a result of the pandemic, that those jobs are recovered… Good economic management will ensure that the Jamaican people feel and experience prosperity,” Holness added.
and then 