Dwight Bellanfante, Contributor

Minister Without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, James Robertson (left), exchanges views with director of the Planning Institute of Jamaica Dr Wesley Hughes, during a break at the National Planning Summit held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Montego Bay, in November 2007. - Contributor

A rare consensus between Government and the private sector on how to fast-track economic development in Jamaica appears to have been forged with the identification of an agreed set of priority areas for immediate attention.

The agreed priorities - the outcome of deliberations arising from the National Planning Summit in November last year - are aimed at jump-starting Jamaica's lethargic economy. The agreement will be overseen by the National Monitoring Board comprising representatives of Government and the private sector and chaired by Industry, Commerce and Investment Minister, Karl Samuda. The focal points include:

The development of Kingston as a major distribution/logistics/free-zone hub;

The completion of preparatory work towards developing Jamaica as an international financial centre;

The provision of the required support for the establishment of a one-stop shop for developing investment approvals;

The reforming of the tax system;

Balancing the national budget;

Addressing crime and violence.

At last year's summit involving leading representatives of the public and private sectors, senior members of the trade-union movement, NGOs and environmentalists - groups often seen as antagonistic towards both government and the private sector - a working group was mandated to establish the monitoring board to oversee the implementation of over 50 initiatives identified at the Summit.

According to the chief technical director in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) and CEO of the Programme Management Office of the National Planning Summit, Sancia Bennett-Templer, the process has resulted in the identification of the priority areas, seen as the platform for the realisation of the far-reaching goals of the summit.

The summit also earmarked a number of key planning themes, including job creation and investment promotion, balancing the budget/debt reduction, tax reform, addressing crime and violence, improving governance, land titling, and education and training.

For each theme, a goal, specific objectives, critical success factors and barriers, strategic initiatives and priorities were identified, along with clear deliverables and broad timelines.

Monitoring all the initiatives will be the responsibility of the Programme Management Office, which will also support, where necessary, the various projects in the ministries and agencies of Government.

Clear goals

A prime mover behind the holding of the summit and ensuring the requisite follow-through is James Robertson, the state minister charged with political responsibility for driving development out of the Office of the Prime Minister. Robertson argues that the multi-sectoral approach to identify and work towards clear goals in solving major developmental problems affecting Jamaica proves the Government is doing more than merely paying lip service to its stated objectives.

He says the mood of the summit, which has pervaded the follow-up process, has been a source of motivation to him.

"The mood was supportive, no one was being territorial, there was a high degree of honesty and openness as to the kinds of serious constraints the country faced, but a determination to find novel ways to overcome these," Robertson notes.

"Understandably, passions ran high at times, which is a sign that people were serious. The prime minister has set the bar very high in terms of what he expects of the political representatives going forward," Robertson says, adding that he and colleague state minister at the OPM, Darryl Vaz, were extremely energised and focused on achieving the goals set.

He pointed out that in embarking on this new drive to push development, the prime minister had not added a new layer of bureaucracy, but had focused instead on driving, streamlining and monitoring the process to ensure success.

President of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), Chris Zacca, is confident that the strong collaboration between the sectors that emanated from last year's planning summit signals a new and positive approach to solving the country's deep-seated economic and social problems and promoting development.

"It's a new approach, practical rather than theoretical. It certainly gives us much room for hope that we can finally begin to work with one accord towards building this country," Zacca states.

Participation

Underlining the view with action, Zacca discloses that the private sector is currently seeking to raise funds from its members to assist in financing the background study that will serve as the catalyst in the decision-making process for the establishment of Jamaica as an international financial centre.

He says the high degree of participation from the various interest groups at the summit and the fact that the programme is being tracked and supported in a systematic way, is perhaps the most obvious sign to date that the consensual approach could work and that the players are serious.

That view resonates with well-known environmentalist Peter Espeut. A long-time critic of the lack of emphasis by succeeding adminis-trations on sustainable development, in particular the failure to adequately factor environmental considerations into development planning, Espeut says he came away from the summit with a feeling that a new consensus had been achieved.

"The mere fact that we (environ-mentalists) were asked to partici-pate and that our views were seriously considered, is room for optimism," says Espeut.