THE EDITOR, Sir:

I FEEL compelled to express my views through this medium in the hope that persons who have the power to lead the change will take note.

With the decline in earnings from our bauxite industry and other sectors, the country cannot continue on the same non-productive path that we are now on. I believe that the only sure way of improving conditions in the country is to provide goods and services for sale locally or externally. If we are able, for example, to produce more of what we eat, it would free up some foreign exchange that otherwise would be used to pay for imports. on the other hand, if we export produce, it would be even better since we would be earning money.

International markets

The next step is to identify goods or services that are in demand; difficult as it is, there are markets available internationally for some of our locally produced crops; for example, scotch bonnet peppers, pepper mint, ginger, just to name a few.

On the service side, we could look at providing nursing homes as we call them for retired individuals not just for locals, but also for persons living overseas who perhaps might want to retire in the Caribbean where the climate is warmer.

I expect our technocrats to work out the details for ideas like this to include location, available manpower, a tax holiday for the first five years, security, advertising, etc. If all of this is carefully worked out, we can then invite investors to partner with us to create the service.

Provide tertiary education

Another service that could be explored is providing lower cost but similar quality tertiary education that targets the international market. This, I believe, has potential to grow exponentially if we do the groundwork right and put the effort into creating the framework that would make it attractive for investors.

I also think our government should lead the way in this regard, not in the sense of providing capital, but more in terms of creating the platform that will encourage investment.

I am, etc.,

William Facey

wfacey@hotmail.com

Bellfield District

Manchester