Susan Smith, Staff Reporter
Jamaica Exporters' Association president, Dr. Andre Gordon. - FILE
JAMAICA'S EXPORTS within the CARICOM market should improve substantially in coming years, if Dr. Andre Gordon has his way.
The Jamaica Exporters' Association, JAMPRO and the Jamaica Manufacturers Association (JMA) have organised a joint trade mission to visit five CARICOM countries next Sunday.
"The real focus of the mission is to re-establish brand Jamaica," said president of the Jamaica Exporters' Association, Dr. Gordon, who will lead the combined group. "We are planning to package and sell brand Jamaica."
Called the 'Reggae Train', the mission involves a delegation of over 30 Jamaican manufacturers and exporters conducting trade shows in Antigua, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia and Barbados.
LACK OF FOCOUS
He explained that in former years, Jamaica placed less focus on the Caribbean markets and more attention on the North American and European hard currency markets.
This lack of focus has contributed to the trade deficit that Jamaica now experiences with most of its CARICOM partners. He said Jamaica no longer enjoys the lead position in inter-CARICOM trade and its ranking had slipped to around fourth place.
With the coming of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), he believes the move to penetrate the Caribbean market in a more structured manner is a strategic necessity.
"We have encouraged companies to take advantage of the lucrative CARICOM market," said Dr. Gordon. He said for expansion to happen on the global level it must first take place at the domestic level.
Since the region will become Jamaica's new domestic market, Dr. Gordon believes Jamaica must have a strong presence in this market.
"Our total export runs somewhere around US$1.4 billion [J$86.6 billion] for last year while total imports at the end of October 2004 was about US$3.7 billion [J$229.4 billion]," said Dr. Gordon.
"In order to reverse the trade deficit, we need to triple our earnings from export by going for a more aggressive market," he further explained.
"There is a huge demand for Jamaican products in the Caribbean and it is a fallacy that we are not competitive," said managing director of Crimson Dawn and head of the JMA delegation, Paulette Rhoden.
TRADE MISSION
The delegation will stage a mini exposition in each country.
The companies to participate in the trade mission range from those in the service, furniture, foods and apparel industry to those manufacturing footwear, pharmaceuticals and chemicals. Dr. Gordon said companies will be looking for distributors and buyers.
"The last time we checked we had generated in the range of about US$2 million in orders and we hope to generate in excess of US$10 million in the next three years from this mission," stated Dr. Gordon.
