Dr Trevor Thomas, Guest Writer

Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) are out of the blocks. As reported in the Financial Gleaner of August 15, the twin-island's Minister of Finance, Karen Nunez-Tesheira, has announced a partnership with the Dubai International Financial Centre in the Middle East where US$1 trillion is at play.

The significance of this will not be lost on Peter John Thwaites, a former president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, who, in January of this year, stated that Dubai represented the best offshore jurisdiction for Jamaica to base itself on.

He urged the prime minister to "lead an official delegation of Jamaican businessmen there, talk to the sheik and find out what he has done, and how he has done it".

If this fell on deaf ears in Jamaica House, the government of Trinidad and Tobago was certainly listening.

Preparation

So now, as Don Wehby carefully reviews the candidates for the Jamaica IFSC Implementation Committee and prepares to interview for the post of chief implementation officer, Karen Nunez-Tesheira is cheerfully announcing that Dubai has agreed to provide Trinidad "with the road map and necessary technical assistance to ensure success".

Let it be said, there may be a degree of bombast in Minister Nunez-Tesheira announcements.

She may be overegging the pudding; but she is not to be taken lightly.

Trinidad spared no expense on engaging, as they say, "top experts" to advise and guide on the development of its International Financial Centre (TTIFC).

These included international chartered accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers; the international management consultancy company Oliver Wyman; and, Patton Boggs, the international law firm with headquarters in Washington.

Jamaica cannot outspend Trinidad in this regard.

With a national debt of 130 per cent of the gross domestic product, inflation at over 20 per cent, low economic growth, and the high price of oil, such expenditure would be imprudent and place an unnecessary strain on our economy.

Some would ask whether in such circumstances we should embark on creating an IFSC at all. The answer is an unequivocal yes!

It is the IFSC that will, in time, earn the foreign exchange not only to meet our oil liabilities, but to reduce the national debt.

It will also serve as a much-needed spur for increased economic growth. It will provide employment, and it will earn the revenue to finance the much-needed social programmes in health and education.

Outspend T&T

We do not need to outspend Trinidad and Tobago on professional consultancy.

We need to be disciplined, proactive and focused. And we need to get a move on. Seriously, if we are going to do this, we need to do it now.

Recognising the success of established offshore financial centres like Cayman, Bermuda and Jersey, there is a wave of small developing countries seeking to take advantage of this marketplace.

Jamaica should be on the cusp of this wave.

We need to harness such resources as we have - physical and intellectual - from the public sector and the private sector - from within Jamaica and from the diaspora without.

We have already publicly announced that one of our niche markets will be sport and entertainment.

With the world's fastest man and the three fastest women dazzling the whole planet at the Olympics and holding our flag aloft on the global stage, we should have been marketing our IFSC now - yes, now - in China, while the whole world is watching.

Jamaica is in the mood for celebration, and rightly so. We have much to celebrate. We are today one nation without political division. Let us harness this mood.

The indefatigable Minister Wehby has met with several potential investors who have demonstrated their willingness to enter public/ private partnerships with the Government to help fund the IFSC.

This will be augmented by local initiatives.

There is, for example, a private Jamaican company in Montego Bay primed and ready to develop land spanning 1,500 acres once our IFSC legislation has been promulgated. It has been ready since the year 2000.

They are not alone. The Jamaica Chamber of Commerce has been vocally calling for the establishment of an IFSC in Jamaica for over five years.

Nunez-Tesheira has said that Trinidad's policy framework on legislation, regulation and tax, together with the draft organisational structure for the TTIFC, will be in place by the end of this month.

'Policy framework'

Note, it is their "policy framework," not the actual legislation and regulation, which will be in place by August 31.

On that basis - with the implementation committee positions filled and the CIO appointed - our policy framework can be in place by September 30.

A bold assertion, to be sure, but it is time to be bold.

We are engaged in a sophisticated financial tussle for the spoils of international capital - race, if you will.

And we know a thing or two about winning races.

Dr Trevor Thomas is an international tax consultant and author of 'Offshore Jamaica: The Path Ahead'.