THE EDITOR, Sir:REFERENCE IS made to a letter from Ms. Renae Mills, which appeared in The Gleaner of March 4, 2005 under the caption 'Note-Worthy'. Ms. Mills took the JMA to task for publishing Digicel's logo on a 'Buy Jamaican' essay competition advertorial which was published in your March 3, 2005 issue. We do appreciate Ms. Mills' interest in the campaign and feel that we must take this opportunity to clarify what may be a misunderstanding.
CRITICAL SERVICE
The liberalisation of the telecoms industry spearheaded by Minister Phillip Paulwell, is creating a platform for improved efficiency in the manufacturing sector and has allowed companies like Digicel to bring to Jamaica a technological revolution in telecommunications. To this end, the JMA now embraces information and telecommunications technology companies as they provide a critical service to manufacturing, enabling the sector to maintain viability in this global trade environment. The JMA recognises Digicel not only as an investor, but as a producer of a service, in that the company uses Jamaican employees, Jamaican voices and other infrastructural resources native to the island to provide its services.
Additionally, Digicel for its part has embraced the local manufacturing sector and has encouraged youth involvement in the 'Buy Jamaican', campaign. They have done this in a very tangible way by providing some level of sponsorship for the 'Buy Jamaican' essay competition. As a sponsor, their logo would appear on the advertisement.
The JMA welcomes public comments on its many programmes and would like to invite Ms. Mills to join the JMA and become part of its campaign to promote Jamaican products and services as we take the 'Buy Jamaican' campaign global.
I am, etc.,
DOREEN FRANKSON
President
