Entrepreneurs Encouraged to Develop Business Strategies to Protect Market Share

Director of Commerce in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Michelle Parkins, has called on entrepreneurs and traders to develop business strategies that include ‘Trade Remedies’ that will defend, expand and protect their market share.

Speaking at the Anti-Dumping Commission/World Trade Organization (WTO) Training Workshop focusing on ‘Trade Remedies’, at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in St. Andrew on February 25, Ms. Parkins said she believes this will assist the nation with regard to an improvement in international trade.

Trade remedies are trade policy tools that allow governments to take remedial action against imports that are causing material injury to a domestic industry. Such remedies include anti-dumping action, countervailing and safeguard measures.

“International trade is among the most important subjects concerning governments and businesses. That is so because international trade is a catalyst for growth and development,” Ms. Parkins argued.

“Jamaican businesses must position themselves for economic growth in order to compete in the global economy, by developing business strategies that incorporate the use of trade remedies,” she added.

Ms. Parkins reiterated that the Government is committed to achieving growth and development of the country through the maximisation of economic sectors, specifically the manufacturing and agricultural sectors.

“Jamaica, like its trading partners, has developed strategies to manage the impact of globalisation on its economy,” she said.

“The Jamaican economy is relatively small and open. Trade remedies are, therefore, a useful tool, necessary to help prevent injury to our Jamaican manufacturers and dissuade unfair outcomes, which may in some cases, result in the complete obliteration of Jamaican industries,” Ms. Parkins added.

The workshop was hosted by the Anti-Dumping and Subsidies Commission, in collaboration with the WTO Rules Division, for entrepreneurs, producers, manufacturers and professional advisors, such as attorneys, accountants and economists. The workshop focused primarily on trade remedies.

The Commission was set up to help Jamaican producers survive some of the challenges they face in the globalised economy.

It determines measures that defend domestic industries in the Jamaican marketplace and in export markets.

The Commission has also examined the expanded role that it must play in the CARICOM Single Market (CSM) as trading relationships are redefined.