Minister of Foreign Trade Anthony Hylton (left), in discussion with Noel daCosta, senior vice president for Desnoes and Geddes, at a press briefing in New Kingston yesterday. FOREIGN TRADE Minister Anthony Hylton yesterday expressed optimism that a Cdn$5 million line of credit which has been made available to Cuban importers through the National Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) could soon translate into increase trade between that island and Jamaica.
The Minister said a recent trade mission to the communist country resulted in the clarification of a number of issues over bureaucracy that were hampering the full utilisation of the available financing. He said it also increased the visibility of Jamaica's trade profile and with that the prospects for the use of the credit line.
The credit line arrangement which facilitates the purchase of Jamaican goods by Cuba, has been in place since October 1997. However, the Minister said it was not being fully used.
Mr. Hylton headed a 10-member joint private/public sector trade delegation to Cuba between July 31 and August 3 and had discussions with a number of Ministers and public servants about boosting trade through the line of credit.
At a press briefing held at his New Kingston office, Minister Hylton also announced the government of Cuba had agreed to extend the line of credit from a few selected Ministries to all 22 Ministries. This, he said, would allow for a wider variety of local goods to find themselves in Cuba.
Mr. Hylton said the mission came in the context of wider trade agreement between CARICOM and Cuba which was recently signed and aims at giving Jamaican goods a headstart in the Cuban market.
"Because of the bilateral understanding and agreement that we had with Cuba in the financing of trade, we thought it opportune to visit at this particular time to ensure our presence in the marketplace and to assist our private sector in getting an edge on the competition," he said.
Emphasising the success of the mission, the Minister said Cdn$227,000 worth of new business was tied up in Cuba using the line of credit before the delegation departed. He said a further commitment to purchase Cdn$72,000 worth of local goods was also secured.
The Minister said that on Tuesday the Cuban Ministry of Construction notified the Ex-Im Bank as to its need for local goods in a variety of areas. The requests are for shoes, cement, boots, paints and transformers.
"Cuba is open to doing business with Jamaica and we are inviting our local private sector to look seriously at doing business with Cuba," the Minister said.
