The Government of Jamaica reported recently that it continues to press the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade into service to successfully promote the country’s trade negotiation through its trade policy development.
The November 14 issue of the Jamaica Observer reports that the Caribbean island’s subject Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson-Smith, in her presentation during the State of the Nation Debate in the Senate, said that the CARICOM member country “continues to advocate within the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) for the most favourable treatment to be accorded to goods relevant to the country’s industries and trade”
Part of the Minister’s presentation, the Observer report said, centred around her Ministry’s continued focus on encouraging the country’s private sector to probe such regional opportunities as exist for trade promotion and to use the facility of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) in support of the country’s further expansion of its intra-regional export markets.
With regard to the country’s focus on expanding its market share within the region Minister Johnson-Smith reportedly cited the recent visit to Guyana by the country’s Minster of Industry, Investment and Commerce Senator Aubyn Hill in October at the head of a private sector delegation which visit, she reportedly said had explored avenues for economic and trade cooperation and investments. The recent outreach to Guyana, was, she added, was part of a broader effort to deepen Jamaica’s trade with the rest of the Caribbean Community.
In her presentation the Minister also alluded to “the longstanding preferential trading relations” which Jamaica enjoys with Canada and the United States as well as through the Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom” through which Jamaica has, among Caribbean member countries, realised notable success in seeking to promote its products in Europe and the USA.
