Produce quality goods for export – Samuda

KINGSTON — Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Karl Samuda, is imploring players in the export and productive sectors to ensure that goods destined for the international market are of the highest quality in order to be competitive.

“We have to be competitive so that our prices are razor sharp, and quality and quantity must be consistent,” he said, while addressing the launch of National Exporters’ Month 2011 on June 6, at the Wyndham hotel in New Kingston.

The Minister said for Jamaican products to maintain their competitive edge, the brand established should be flawless, internationally consistent and easily recognised.

“When we say ‘we are the brand’, let us make sure that we respect those words and we give credence to them by training our workers, by introducing into our processes, appropriate and applicable technology…, lets innovate…, and development must be an integral part of everything we do when we talk about exports,” he stated.

Mr. Samuda said that many stakeholders in the export and manufacturing sectors are already doing “a phenomenal job, and we applaud them,” noting that Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO) would be working with some of these persons “so that they can get up to a level of competitiveness, (so) that they can take their rightful place …both in the domestic and in the external market."

He said he was “150 per cent behind the export community and the productive sector,” noting that the Government has fought to ensure that the incentives they now enjoy are not taken away.

National Exporters’ Month, is being staged by the Jamaica Exporters’ Association (JEA) under the theme: ‘We are Brand Jamaica’.

The month’s activities seek to highlight the contribution of the export sector to the Jamaican economy. They include company visits and lecture series; a breakfast forum; an export seminar; and the annual awards banquet.

By ALECIA SMITH, JIS Reporter