Work still to do on optimising CARICOM

THE EDITOR, Sir:

The current CARICOM debate should not be focused on whether Jamaica remains within the regional grouping but instead on the country's perceived duty, as first among equals as the current chairman of CARICOM, to create mutual prosperity.

In this regard, the Logistics Hub Initiative (LHI) which posits a development strategy for Jamaica, should be optimised to the benefit of economies of the entire region.

Caribbean Development Bank policy papers on the financing the blue economy and air transport competitiveness and connectivity in the Caribbean presented at the May 2018 annual meeting of the board of governors highlights some of the challenges and opportunities facing the region that the LHI addresses.

The LHI and special economic zone (SEZ) regime, as key pillars to the nation's economic and social development, as well as employment creation, can take advantage of CARICOM's larger market size and larger available talent pool to lure multinational investors with final markets in the Americas.

The LHI goals of improving maritime and aviation infrastructure and connectivity, building world-class commercial and industrial infrastructure under the auspices of SEZ fiscal incentives, require access to a freely moving skills pool and unrestricted CARICOM duty-free access for goods manufactured in our SEZs that satisfy the rules-of-origin criteria.

We still encounter barriers within CARICOM to the movement of skilled works and for goods manufactured in free zones and SEZs. We must work closer together to cement regional integration to exploit the strategic location advantages we have as a region.

ERIC DEANS

Chief Executive Officer

Jamaica Special Economic

Zone Authority.