Ministry of Industry Investment and Commerce

4 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 10, ISSUE 2 JAMA I CAN MINI STRY OF INDUSTRY INVESTMENT & COMMERCE (MI I C) MIIC’s mandate is: “To develop policies, plans, and programs that contribute towards GDP, growth, and job creation; to promote investments that increase export and grow foreign exchange earnings; to regulate towards a modern and efficient business and trade economy with a framework of accountability and good governance; and to facilitate Jamaican industries that drive productivity and job creation.” Led by Senator the Hon. Aubyn Hill since early 2022, MIIC values accountability, growth, integrity, leadership, and efficiency. The Ministry and its Minister recognize the great responsibility entrusted to them by Jamaican business owners and stakeholders across the nation- and it’s not a responsibility taken lightly. Minister Hill begins, “Business is perhaps the most important sector in our economy, as it produces the vast amount of money spent by our government. More than the funds it produces, the business sector employs the majority of individuals paying the largest amount of income tax due to being above the exemption threshold of 1.5 million. In this way, business firms and their employees are essentially the ones who fund the government. “The people who pay my salary, the salaries of cabinet ministers, the salaries of government bureaucrats, are businesses. The Ministry, therefore, plays a vital role by making sure we enable, facilitate, encourage, and implement legislation and resources to support continued business growth throughout Jamaica.” MIIC works alongside a number of government and community agencies to fulfill this role, Minister Hill explains. “In government, you never do anything alone. We collaborate continuously with the Minister of Finance, Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation (MEGJC), Ministry of Labour, Jamaica Special Economic Zone…When businesses want to invest and develop, we clear the way for them. We also work with training arms and organizations such as HEART/NSTA Trust, which ensures human capital development in Jamaica’s labor force, so we can continue to sustain our national economy and stay competitive on a global level.” The Minister continues, “Of course, there are others we partner with, for example, the Inter- American Development Bank (IDB) who we negotiated with to secure a US$15 million loan in 2020 for training purposes. When I came to run this ministry, I was careful to make sure that the money we spend on training would extend to certification. Every single person we train is to train to be certified so that they can work in Jamaica and anywhere else. We are helping to make sure the labor force is available, and be expanded. We are currently sitting at around 6% unemployment- this is a historical low for Jamaica.