Jamaicans hold key to economic growth - US ambassador
Published:Monday | February 21, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Noel Thompson, Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
UNITED STATES ambassador to Jamaica, Pamela Bridgewater, has charged that, the sooner steps are taken to seriously rein in crime in Jamaica and eliminate unnecessary obstacles to direct foreign investments, the quicker the country will see increased investments.
Ambassador Bridgewater was addressing the 25th anniversary celebrations of the American Chamber of Commerce at the Palmyra Resort in Montego Bay on Friday.
"The path for increasing economic growth in Jamaica rests in the hands of Jamaicans," she said. Referring to a quote by Jamaica-born, former US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, Bridgewater reiterated: "Money is a coward, and money likes to go where it is treated best and where there is stability."
Committed to working with Jamaica
She said the members of the United States mission remain committed to working with Jamaica's officials, its people and the private sector, to build on what she lauded as "this successful Jamaican debt exchange and the progress that has been made in meeting the targets of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) standby agreement."
"However, we believe that it is crucial for Jamaica to take advantage of this window of opportunity, for this arrangement is a temporary step that has afforded a window of breathing space to regroup, but the only way that Jamaica will end its pattern of high debt is to grow the economy and create jobs," she said.
To achieve this feat, she asserted that it would not require grand speeches from persons like her, or White Paper studies, as a lot of that had already been done. Instead, she said what is needed is to assess the obstacles that hinder investment and ensure that they are all resolved quickly and efficiently.
Some examples she believes could work in this vein include the Patent and Designs Act to bring Jamaica into compliance with its international Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) obligations and to remove it from the 301 Watch List for IPR.