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Fourteen Caribbean countries are currently participating in a three-day regional workshop in Jamaica, through which the World Bank hopes to assist in promoting foreign direct investments (FDI) in the region. FDI is investment of foreign assets in domestic structures, equipment and organisations. The workshop, which began Wednesday (October 20) at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston, aims at enhancing the...

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Reginald Budhan has called on the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ), to explore adopting a standards management system, tailored for micro enterprises. He said the need for such a system is critical, as Small Island Developing States are largely dominated by micro businesses that do not have...

State Minister for Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Michael Stern says the standards development frontier is very dynamic, and therefore requires the full participation of a wide and diverse cross section of the society. He explained that standardisation is the avenue through which cross border trading is managed, whether as a facilitator or preventing technical barriers to trade, and all...

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Reginald Budhan, says Jamaica needs to move more "aggressively" to implement international standards, if the country is to improve its efficiency and export earning potential. Speaking at the Bureau of Standards Jamaica's annual symposium at the Knutsford Court Hotel, New Kingston, Tuesday (Oct. 12), Mr. Budhan said that standards are...

Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Karl Samuda, has said that greater focus is to be placed on micro enterprises, which he feels, have largely been ignored in the thrust to assist small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Karl Samuda. He said while more than 90 per cent of businesses in Jamaica fall...

Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Karl Samuda has reinforced the call for businesses to support local furniture manufacturers, and to push them to ensure that their products are internationally competitive. Mr. Samuda said that while imported furniture indicates that the taste of the Jamaican customer has risen to the level that propels local producers to make quality goods,...

The National Competitiveness Council has brought together the relevant groups from the public and private sectors to brainstorm ways to reduce bureaucracy in government and enhance the local business environment. At an extraordinary meeting, held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, on (October 6), Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Karl Samuda said while there has been some reduction in...

Minister of State for Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Michael Stern, has said that research and development are critical factors in stimulating innovation, economic growth and competitiveness. Minister of State for Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Michael Stern. "Through research and development we have learnt new ways of feeding ourselves, developed innovative business ideas and products and provided technical know-how...

Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon Karl Samuda, says that plans are well advanced for the establishment of the 200-acre investment facility at Caymanas, St. Catherine. "We have some 14 local businesses that have expressed interest and are willing to purchase lots and build out facilities such as factories, stores, warehousing and (undertake) light manufacturing," Mr. Samuda said. Minister...

State Minister for Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Michael Stern has called for a new attitude to the financing of small businesses in the country, noting that alternative means of obtaining capital need to be explored. "Today, with most lending to small-scale enterprises being security-based, without any regard for potential cash flow, a whole range of alternative small business financing...

Matters relating to the small business sector were discussed today (September 21), at an inaugural conference, staged by the Small Business Association of Jamaica (SBAJ), in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, at the Wyndham Kingston Hotel. Conference Chair, Bridgette M. Steele, who spoke at the opening , said the seminar is geared towards educating small business...

Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Karl Samuda has said that Jamaica's export sector must seek to expand and find creative ways to become more competitive in order to earn much-needed foreign exchange. According to the Minister "this country has one major problem, which is simply that we do not earn enough foreign exchange." "The fundamental problem is that...