Govt. to Embark on New Thrust in ICT Sector

Minister of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce, Phillip Paulwell, has said that the Government would soon be embarking on a new thrust to re-focus the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry, under the theme: ‘Growth With Stability’.
Addressing a press briefing after an extensive tour of the Montego Bay Freezone’s ICT facilities on July 21, the Minister said that the motivation for this intended path was mainly because of the tremendous potential that existed in the industry.
“We believe that we have seen, overtime, tremendously good models in Jamaica that would enable us to keep those companies, so that we do not expect to see any significant fall-outs, but very importantly, we want to see, now with some new advantages, growth taking place, growth amongst the existing clients and companies, and of course growth with new investors coming to Jamaica,”Mr. Paulwell said.
He pointed out that over the past months, a remarkable level of interest has been displayed in the ICT industry and this has contributed to the tremendous expansion now taking place on the telecommunications landscape, which was the heartbeat of the entire industry.
“We have a number of companies in Jamaica . companies that have been here, have decided to stay and very importantly they are expanding. I believe that in the face of fall-outs from time to time . we need to look at the successes and to see how we can make them into real models and to see how we can emulate what they have been able to achieve in Jamaica and to see how we can get others to follow, in order for the stability to be evident and the growth to take place,” the Minister said.
He commended three such companies for their success stories, namely E-Services, Vista Prints and Affiliated Computer Services (ACS).
Mr. Paulwell stressed that, not withstanding the challenges in the industry, there were successes evident and that if closer observations were made of these models, then a lot more jobs could be created by the country for its people.
The Minister pointed out that priority would be given to amending the relevant legislation to ensure parity among manufacturing companies in the Freezone.
He also noted that the issue of space would be up for discussions, and that private Freezones would be looked at for full recognition and inclusion in the ICT industry.