ROBERTSONMinister of Deve-
lopment, Dr. Paul Robertson, has invited Colombians to invest in Jamaica while pointing to opportunities in housing, agriculture, manufacturing, education and training as well as other services.
The Development Minister, who was addressing the Jamaica/Colombia investors meeting at the Hilton Hotel, New Kingston recently, noted that the Jamaican economy was now stronger, more stable and more diversified than at any other time in the country's history. He said there had been expansion in the areas of tourism, bauxite and alumina, mining and information and telecommunication and prospects in the energy sector.
record levels of investment
"We are attracting record levels of investment and interest rates are trending in the right direction," he told the meeting.
Dr. Robertson attributed
the developments to the Government's efforts to provide quality infrastructure as one of the key drivers in the transformation of the economy.
"The Government has undertaken the most massive infrastructural development in the history of the country," he said.
Colombia and CARICOM have shared a preferential trade agreement since 1995, which has seen the community exporting approximately US$27 million of goods and services to Colombia.
Dr. Robertson said Jamaica supplies gypsum to Colombia, and the demand for this commodity was strong, with room for further expansion. He noted also, that Jamaican alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages were experiencing dynamic growth in the Colombian market.
business invitation
Meanwhile, Dr. Carolina Barco, the Colombian Foreign Affairs Minister, extended an invitation for Jamaica to work closer with her country.
For those investors who might be concerned about the level of crime as well as the drug trade, she pointed out that several steps were being taken to reduce crime in Colombia.
She noted that kidnapping and killings have declined by 50 per cent, with many parts of the country now very safe, based
on security measures being implemented.
"We need to have security in order to have economic development and you need economic development in order to have strong social investment," she said.
