KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica Promotion Corporation (JAMPRO) will be launching a major international marketing campaign to regain the interests of investors following the unrest in sections of West Kingston.
“JAMPRO will be embarking on intensive dialogue with existing investors, those who are already here, and also those who we wish to encourage to come here,” Industry, Investment and Commerce Minister, Hon. Karl Samuda, told journalists at a press briefing at his New Kingston office on Tuesday (June 15).
He said the funding for the exercise, which will involve a media communications strategy, to provide information on business opportunities in Jamaica, will come from JAMPRO’s $400 million budget.
He noted that “we will have to use internal creativity to find the funds and the resources to effect the job that we have set out to do. We are not endowed with any special source of funding other than our budget, so we will have to live within our budget, but be prudent and effective.”
According to the Minister, the unrest, which occurred some three weeks ago, has had a negative impact on the investment climate, including the fledgling film industry. “We had confirmed losses of approximately $54.6 million and 88 jobs in the creative industries,” he informed.
He said there were other sectors, such as the Information Communications Technology (ICT), which were playing a kind of “watch and see game.”
“They’re looking at the situation and they’re hoping it will improve and it is our job, especially that of JAMPRO, to reassure them that we are a safe, friendly and business conscious destination,” he stated.
Minister Samuda told journalists that the marketing campaign to be undertaken by JAMPRO, will target audiences all over the world, especially in key markets in North America and Europe.
“We will be working right across North America in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and our embassies and consuls right across the world, to send the message that Jamaica is a safe destination in which to do business and to invest,” the Minister said.
Mr. Samuda also informed that he will be visiting New York this week and will seize the opportunity to meet with the leadership of the Diaspora to restore their confidence in Jamaica.
He said that a contingent will also be travelling to Shanghai, China, where Jamaica is currently participating in the Shanghai 2010 Expo, in a bid to also paint a positive picture of investment opportunities in the country.
