direct investments, to rebuild infrastructure and put
new business in.
The other one that they’re negotiating is to open
up, bring agriculture in Jamaica, which has been very
informal, into an organized way, whereby farmers grow
to specifications and the products are bought, graded and
sold. Because we have a very informal system, a lot of our
hotels do not buy locally, they buy agricultural products
out of Miami and bring them in, so that’s foreign exchange
going out. They are looking for agricultural exports and
import substitution. And then they are also going to put
in a program which is more medium to long term, to go
after the MSME sector, small business sector, but that’s
going to take time to build a sector.
BV: This doesn’t seem like just an easy job for
a guy who had retired, this seems like a full-time
endeavor all the time.
KENNEDY:
It’s a full-time job, yes.
BV:
How easy is this going to be and how long is it
going to take?
KENNEDY:
It’s going to take anywhere from five to
10 years. The one thing that IMF also stated is that in the
past – I think this is the third IMF program that the country
of Jamaica has been in – with the other two or three
programs, everythingwas dominatedby the government.
The IMF, the World Bank and the IADB have said no,
you must have a full-fledged partner in the private sector,
so the private sector organizations are now sitting on
what we call oversight and execution committees – joint
committees between the government and the private
sector, which is very unique and, by the way, it’s working
very well. On the committee, you have a chair, a co-
chair who comes from the private sector and a co-chair
that comes from the public sector and then four to six
additional members from each, so the maximum size of
the board is about 12.
So you sit down and meet a minimum of once a
month. It seems to be working very, very well right now,
because what has happened is that private sector people
are bringing execution into the mix. The government and
civil servants usually are very good at writing papers and
project documents and how to apply for funds, but they
don’t knowmuch about execution, so this is where we’re
at right now. It’s an experiment that we’re trying.
BV:
This is something that kind of flies in the face
of the way things have been done and the scale that
you’re going to need to have it done on. Taking off
your Chamber of Commerce hat and just looking at it
as an observer – do you think this is all going to work
out to where it needs to be if we revisit this in five or
10 years?
KENNEDY:
In five years, I think it has to. I mean,
this is our last chance, we don’t have any more room
to borrow. Our international financial credit rating as
a country is in terrible shape and the only reason that
we are going to get FDIs, foreign direct investments, in
Jamaica is because you have the sanction of the multi-
lateral institutions – they approve the projects.
So it has to be done. We have to do it. The current
government believes in it and we’re meeting. There are
about 18 people in the cabinet and we’re not going to
present to the entire cabinet, but what they’re doing is
taking two or three people out of the cabinet and saying
these are the respective ministers, bring your respective
private sector people who know the business and let’s
get down and get the projects going.
BV:
People outside of Jamaica probably have an
impression of what the island is and what it’s there for
andwhat it produces and things like that, but what are
some undiscovered gems in Jamaica that are going to
help fuel this reinvention or resurgence or whatever
word you want to attach to it? What needs to happen
that people don’t already know about?
KENNEDY:
As far as mining is concerned, I believe
we are the world’s second-largest producer of bauxite
and aluminum, but we have many, many other minerals.
We have some rare minerals. The Japanese have come
in here and set up an experimental plant and they’re
going after the rare minerals and metals. Our limestone
is 98 percent pure. The agriculture – we have a very
informal system of agriculture, whereby the farmers now
sell their produce or production to vendors or to people
who come and buy and then sell to supermarkets and
into the market – but the vendors buy the whole crop.
The farmers love that because they get one lump sum
figure for whatever crop they’re growing. Now what we
are about to set up is packing and grading houses, and
sell to the hotels and to the restaurants that import their
produce. They only want to buy grade A and grade B, but
there are also grades C, D and E products, so what you
also need to do is set up processing plants to deal with
concentrates and have them available for export. This is
how the United States and Canada deal with agriculture
and we just have to follow it.
BV: I
s it going to be possible, easy, challenging,
whatever word you want to ascribe to it, to change
the mindset of some of the players there in the
country to accept the new way of doing things and
how mandatory it’s going to have to be?
KENNEDY:
I
don’t think so. Most of the progressive
companies in Jamaica see it, the government sees it, of
course, because they are backing the plan, and as far as
the farmers are concerned, if they can see that they will
earn more money, they will follow the new rules. The
key is to start it and then maintain it, and not allow it to
die or go back to the old ways, you know?
BV:
Given the circumstances you explained, that’s
really not an option, correct?
KENNEDY:
It’s not an option right now. The other
thing that the government is doing is that we want to
become the world’s fourth international logistics hub.
The current logistics hubs are Singapore, Dubai and
Rotterdam. There’s no logistics hub for the Americas.
China and Japan and Thailand and the countries in the
Far East want to start exporting more to the Americas,
especially South and Central America, but it’s very
expensive to export to these countries. So what they
want to do is establish terminals, sea terminals, in the
Americas. Jamaica is favored, especially by the Chinese,
because Jamaica was only the second country in the
Western Hemisphere to recognize mainland China as
China way back in the ’60s and ’70s. We recognized
China in September 1972.
Cuba recognized mainland China in the late 1960s and
the main reason is that the United States of America was
pushing Taiwan as China and the rest of the Americas
followed. Mainland China has been very appreciative of
us, and they said yes they’re willing to invest in Jamaica.
Jamaica came to China’s aid in mid-1972, opened
domestic relations with China in September/October
1972, and the Chinese president told our prime minister
in August of this year that Jamaica dug the well for the
Americas, that is, we were the second ones to recognize
China, China has discovered water in the well and China
wants to share the water now with Jamaica.
So it’s a very, very close relationship between China
and Jamaica right now. China is investing quite a lot of
money in Jamaica right now.
BV:
It sounds like the decision to acknowledge
mainland China 40 years ago may be on the verge of
paying off in a very big way.
KENNEDY:
It is. They are investing quite a lot of
money in Jamaica – both concessionary loan financing
and even grant funding.
BV:
Are there other countries that would be non-
traditional that you’re trying to establish relationships
with?
KENNEDY:
Because of the logistics hub, we need
to open up trade relations and trade agreements with
the countries of South America. We have with Columbia
and Venezuela right now only, and in Central America
we have with Panama and Costa Rica, but not the rest
of Central America. So both the government and the
private sector are now opening up negotiations to deal
with that.
“It’s a full-time job, yes.”
