Business View Caribbean | December 2019

10 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN DECEMBER 2019 of US$529. Green stressed that it “doesn’t serve anybody’s interest if our exporters cannot afford the cost at the port to move their goods. “As a Government, we are going to still work on the border control hours, and we believe that the proposed Jamaica Single Window For Trade (JSWIFT) will reduce those border control hours significantly.” JSWIFT, which is currently being piloted in some industry entities, is a one-stop-shop electronic system that allows traders to submit information at a single point to fulfil all import and export regulatory requirements. “The idea is to create a paperless environment for permits, inspections [and] release of goods through JSWIFT,” Green said. Turning to Export Max III, the Minister noted that the continued success of the program demonstrates what can be achieved when silos are removed and focus placed on a singular mission, and “that mission is to drive exports solely.” This year, 48 companies from the food, non-food, creative, and services sectors are benefiting from capacity building and export promotion support under the programme. The three-year initiative, which will run until 2022, is geared towards providing focused capacity, advocacy, and market penetration support to exporters and export-ready firms. The program, which also includes mentorship, business development, sales training, and export promotion components, will identify specific needs of the target companies, and design and implement customized enterprise development initiatives to improve business performance and competitiveness. To this end, JAMPRO is partnering with the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association (JMEA), and Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) to deliver the program, for which MOUs were signed. Other partners are the Bureau of Standards, the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ), HEART Trust/NTA, Bank of Nova Scotia, the Jamaica Productivity Centre, the Foundation for Competitiveness Growth Project, and Jamaica National. We have over-bureaucratized our processes around trade for far too long in our country