Caymanas Economic Zone to Provide Thousands of Jobs

Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Karl Samuda, has said that the establishment of the Caymanas Economic Zone, in St. Catherine, is expected to provide jobs for more than 30,000 Jamaicans.
Addressing members of the Jamaican Diaspora Canada Foundation (JDCF) and several Jamaican business owners at a recent meeting at the Jamaican Consulate General in Toronto, Canada, Mr. Samuda said the industrial zone is located in an excellent area for development, and that it is located next to where the largest and most sophisticated, trained people in the Caribbean live (Portmore), and is adjacent to one of the best ports in the world.
The Caymanas Economic Zone will cost US$2.5 billion and will transform approximately 1,000 acres of land into factories and warehouses for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry, the services industry, manufacturing and agro-processing. Eventually, the Tinson Pen Aerodrome, in Kingston, will be relocated next to the economic zone.
Mr. Samuda implored the Jamaicans living overseas to invest in Jamaica and thus “not only enrich the country, but also yourselves”.
The Minister invited members of the Diaspora to forward business proposals to him and promised that all of them would be studied in detail.
“Jamaica is a rich country, full of potential and we have not yet realised our full potential. We cannot enjoy economic independence if we don’t export more. With the success of Jamaica will come the success of every Jamaican who lives inside and outside of Jamaica,” he said.
Mr. Samuda was visiting Canada to get some first-hand information on Canada’s investment facilitation unit and to find out about some of the Canadian strategies for doing business. While in Ottawa, the Minister met with officials from Invest in Canada Bureau and Industry Canada, and in Toronto he met with the Deputy Minister from the Ministry of Small Business and Consumer Affairs, Angela Longo.
Accompanying the Minister were Jamaica’s High Commissioner to Canada, Evadne Coye; Jamaica’s Consul General to Toronto, Anne-Marie Bonner; Manager of Investment Support Services at Jamaica Trade and Invest (JTI), Robert Kerr; Chief Executive Officer of the Jamaica Business Development Corporation, Valerie Veira; Director of Commerce in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Ms. Andrene Collings; and Modernisation Projects Co-ordinator in the Office of the Prime Minister, Lorna Perkins.