The mission of the Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO) is to significantly deepen its contribution to increased and sustainable levels of investments and exports and to be recognised globally as a leading investment and export development agency. This was stated by JAMPRO's President Mrs. Pat Francis in her address at the official opening of the organisation's new headquarters at 18 Trafalgar Road, last Monday (July 15).
To achieve these objectives, Mrs. Francis said, the organisation had been working through a change process, which included "intense research and process mapping, the crafting of new investment promotion and export development policies and a deepening of the understanding of the psychology of investor communities and markets globally."
At the same time, the JAMPRO President pointed out that the organisation was pursuing its goals in "an environment of economic slow-down, increased aversion towards direct investment in developing countries, heightened concerns about global security, and domestic challenges that make the task of marketing Jamaica much more complex."
Mrs. Francis described the challenges facing JAMPRO as three-fold-presenting Jamaica as a competitive investment location, assisting Jamaican exporters to be competitive in the overseas market, and JAMPRO itself being able to effectively compete in the global market for investments.
She explained that for the export sector, the organisation's major objectives are facilitating and nurturing projects with export capacity and competitiveness and export oriented businesses involved in value-added production in agri-business, beverages, information and communication technology, and film and music. The key markets for these, she said, are Canada, USA, European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean.
JAMPRO's investment activities, Mrs. Francis said, will be concentrated on the promotion of industry sectors that offer possibilities for sustainable investments that build on Jamaica's comparative advantages. The current target areas are the leisure industries namely music and tourism, high value added manufacturing, specialised mining, recycling, nutraceuticals, and ICT services.
She said that the JAMPRO modernisation process involved bringing its institutional capacities in line with the challenges and objectives and that JAMPRO's operating processes now mirror a corporation more than they do the agency of the past.
"We have instituted structures, systems and controls to promote greater accountability to stakeholders and clients, transparency and professionalism and we have improved on the processes within the organisation," Mrs. Francis said.
She also said that JAMPRO had reduced its staff complement from 270 in 1998 to the current figure of 100, comprising "a cadre of young, capable professionals, who were chosen for their competencies and skills in promoting and facilitating investment and export development".
The JAMPRO President said that she was confident that the organisation's new head office with its new features and facilities and the new JAMPRO ethos and professionalism will efficiently implement and co-ordinate the investment and export policies and strategies across the public and private sectors.
