KINGSTON, Jamaica, Jamaica is sending a 60-member trade delegation to Guyana later this month, focusing on strengthening previously established partnerships with Guyanese businesses as well as increasing trade and investment opportunities between the two countries
Industry, Investment and Commerce Minister, Aubyn Hill, will head the delegation from January 23-28, hoping “Jamaica and Guyana building formidable business, commercial and even broader political arrangement.
“Jamaica is very optimistic about this trade mission, and I believe that it will help us to cement those original arrangements we made,” he said, adding, “I see the relationship that we are seeking to build with Guyana as a vital one [especially] for Jamaican construction companies.”
Jamaica hopes the week-long mission will result in approximately 100 business-to-business meetings that will drive cross-border transactions in investments and trade, mutually beneficial to both countries.
Acting President of the Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO), Shullette Cox, said that “with the economic boom that is coming to Guyana, there is going to be heavy demand for construction, not only for services but also supplies, and so we have a couple of companies from the sector that will be making the trip with us.
“Very related to development and infrastructure will be the need to capitalize on those types of projects, and Jamaican financial institutions are going to be positioned at the forefront of those engagements,” Cox told JIS News.
Companies within the banking and finance sectors will be a part of the local delegation, and Cox noted that of the various industries that will be participating in the mission, “the most significant interest that we have seen is in our technology sector or what we call our Global Digital Services Sector.
“With export being a primary focus for JAMPRO, one of the important inroads that we want to make in Guyana is to expose our exporters, both on the manufacturing and agricultural side, to new buyers and new distributors in the Guyanese market,” Cox said.
She said the role of JAMPRO on this mission is to “establish business relationships and secure export contracts in goods and services.
“As a government entity, we also reinforce the relationship between the Governments of Jamaica and Guyana, and we look forward to achieving and coming back to report on all of the successes coming out of those discussions.”
The chief executive officer at Konnexx Services Limited, Dean Nevers, said that since participating in the first mission to Guyana last October, his company, which is involved in telecommunications engineering, has begun operations in Guyana.
“The trip to Guyana for many first-time visitors was encouraging, and we took up the opportunity through the networking afforded us by the JAMPRO team. Since then, we have established our operations in Guyana and begun working there.”
Nevers said the mission is essential in exporting Jamaica’s technical services across the Caribbean.
“Jamaicans are leaders in this sector, and I think it would help reduce our unemployment rate if we look at export not just for goods but for services. As leaders in the sector, we are ready and looking forward to further opportunities being extended to us by Senator Hill and his team on this second trade mission,” he said.
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