Jamaica National Workshop: The Challenges Ahead

KINGSTON AND MONTEGO BAY, 1 March 2001

Workshops were held in Kingston and Montego Bay on 20 and 21 February 2001 to discuss the Jamaica country assessment. The workshops and country assessment will help to raise the capacity of Jamaican people, institutions and enterprises to manage issues related to globalization.

The assessment praised the island's relatively positive human development record and its demographic structure, which has yielded a productive labour force. It stressed the need to emphasise industries such as tourism, entertainment, high value-added manufacturing and information technology, coupled with monetary policies to reduce the interest rate, and the development of a brand for Jamaica.

In considering Government economic policies, poverty alleviation can be targeted in tandem with economic growth through the promotion of the micro business sector.

Participants agreed not all FDI is volatile, and recent inflows to Jamaica have been a positive development. At the same time, local entrepreneurs are seeking policies to assist increasing flows of outward investment (see Policy Dialogue on Home Country Measures to Encourage FDI to LDCs overleaf).

In the area of social capital and governance, human rights concerns highlighted the importance of the Caribbean Court of Justice as a key element of the Caribbean Single Market. Furthermore, a dialogue among all levels of society to develop collective approaches to a national development strategy is seen as essential in bringing issues of national concern to the spotlight.

In employment, while Jamaica's 16% jobless rate needs to be targeted, the strong flow of emigration to the US and UK has had positive effects in the form of remittances studies show these make up for lost tax revenue.

The points identified in the workshops will form an input to Jamaica's national action plan.

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© United Nations 2001