Jamaican Minister of Industry, Investments and Commerce
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On Saturday 5 October,, at the Marriott Hotel, against a back drop of the Ottawa River and the rolling hills of the Gatineau, Black Ottawa Scene sat down with Hon Anthony Hylton, Jamaican Minister of Industry, Investments and Commerce, on a short visit to Canada, with a delegation of Jamaican business leaders. Exuding a quiet confidence, the soft-spoken minister addressed issues on his government’s long-term vision for Jamaica, tackling unemployment, crime, diaspora, sports and more. In attendance was Robert Kerr, Regional Manager and Consul of JAMPROa.
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Hon Minister, welcome to Ottawa and to Canada. First off, what is the purpose of your visit to Canada?
I am leading a delegation to various parts of Canada to engage potential investors and trading partners, who have demonstrated an interest in Jamaica’s logistics hub, which will position Jamaica as the 4th pillar in the global logistics chain, behind Rotterdam, Dubai and Singapore. This is a major project requiring major investments and is potentially transformative not only to the Jamaican economy but the entire Caribbean region and has implications for the global trading system. My ministry coordinates this major initiative which also involves other key ministries and agencies.
Your delegation includes officials from Jamaican Promotions Ltd., Chamber of Commerce, Factories Corporation of Jamaica, and Logistics Task force. What is their role in this visit and what do they hope to accomplish by coming to Canada?
They are an integral part of this mission. It is significant that this project is being promoted, not only by the government but by the private sector and the civil society where we have the consensus view about this investment opportunity. The other agencies are key agencies of my ministry. JAMPRO is a promotional agency that promotes and markets Jamaica’s products and services as well as investments.
What is the state of trade between Jamaica and Canada? Is there any imbalance in terms of exports and imports between the 2 countries?
Happily for us there is an imbalance in favour of Jamaica. Jamaica exports $274 million in trade. Canada exports about $112 million but our trading activities over the next period will involve an expansion and those numbers could change, positively for Jamaica and for Canada.
Your government’s vision for the future, as described in “Jamaica: Vision 2030”, speaks of a country in which “each child has equal opportunity to develop his or her potential through access to the best care, affection and protection”. And yet, among the top issues the government and people of Jamaica are facing, are high unemployment and crime. The educational and health sectors are reportedly hurting as well. How does that fit with your road map for the future as outlined in that position paper? What is the government doing to address these seemingly intractable problems?
All of this is relative in terms of where Jamaica has been and where Jamaica hopes to be in the future. Our educational system remains strong. It is true that with the global recession, Jamaica is trying to recover, like many other countries. A major part of this strategy is the global positioning of Jamaica as a global logistics hub which will be expanded along with the expansion of the Panama canal. Regarding unemployment, we believe that it provides educational and vocational training opportunities that are now being addressed in preparation as part of the logistics hub. Our concern is that when that gets going, we’ll be short of labour and we would be employing labour from the rest of the Caribbean and from our Diaspora. Jamaica is in a good position so long as we continue to provide training and educational opportunities to our people. The crime situation is no more than any other country in the region,. We are all challenged by youth unattachedness, the fact that a number of our young people are looking and searching for their own social values. We have to help them in that regard by providing the quality jobs; we believe we can address those underlying social problems.
Jamaica is well known for its tourist industry. If I’m correct, tourism is the largest single external income source for Jamaica. Are there any other lesser known industries and natural resources that you want to promote to Canada and the rest of the world?
Jamaica is known for a number of things, tourism being one of them. Bauxite and aluminum are some of the industries where exports give us a trade surplus with Canada. Jamaica is also doing extremely well within the business and knowledge process outsourcing, such as information communication technology. That is a platform that enables Jamaica to participate effectively in the global outsourcing process. That employs a significant number of persons. At the moment, it is only constrained by the pace at which we can build and expand spaces and we are building and investing significant amounts in that business process outsource. Also Jamaica doing extremely well in creative industries, such as music and the animation sector, where we are making a significant push with the creative element in our society. That along with the logistical hub will provide a very solid economic base for the transformation of the Jamaican economy.
How is the tourism industry doing at this time? In the recent past, there have been a couple of high profile homicides and other crimes involving Canadians as victims, how has this impacted the industry? What is the Jamaican government doing to give Canadian visitors a better sense of safety and security?
We have to get the facts very clear, those facts are convoluted. First of all, there is no evidence anywhere that tourists are being targeted in particular. Some of the crimes are transactional crimes, meaning Jamaica’s location is also attractive to drug trafficking. We’ve had a huge challenge, supported by the Canadian navy and the US navy in interdicting the drug trade. We continue to face a challenge with that. The crime issue is basically around gangs related to the drug trade. There is no evidence that the tourist industry is any target by any gangs in Jamaica. Occasionally there have been incidents and these are random. With the numbers of Canadian tourists increasing, it is evident that Canadian tourists themselves have concluded that there is no reason for concern.
There are more than twelve thousand people of Jamaican descent residing in the Ottawa region, thousands more in the larger metropolitan centres such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Is there any plan within the framework of Jamaica 2030 to include Jamaicans in the Diaspora in moving the country forward, economically, socially, and in other sectors such as health and education?
There has been not only a policy but an institutional plan that engages the Jamaican Diaspora. We had recently in Jamaica a Diaspora conference in which significant numbers of Jamaican Canadians participated. This is a regular conference held every two years. That showcases the opportunity and engages with Canadians in the Diaspora in the development of Jamaica. There is a definite institutional arrangement for sustained dialogue and engagement that involves a significant role for the Diaspora.
Jamaica seems to be in the forefront of people in the Caribbean identifying with their African ancestry. Yet we hardly hear of trade and other relationships between your country and countries in continental Africa. I’m thinking of those countries struggling economically, socially, and lacking such basics as health and education for their populations. Do you see Jamaica with its vast resources in human talent, assisting those countries move forward?
Jamaica’s support and sharing of its human resources in Africa is well known, in Botswana, Nigeria, South, a number of Jamaican professionals giving services. I myself as a former foreign minister, am very aware of those developments in Africa. More can be done but Jamaica struggles and is in process of developing its own economy, focusing on resources and strengthening Jamaica’s economy. The global logistical hub that is at the heart of our economic transformation will be a significant boon to Africa and trade with Africa, particularly with West Africa. We believe the hub and Jamaica’s position will have significant and positive implications for Africa.
When people hear of Jamaica, their minds invariably go to Usain Bolt? And yet there was this troubling news of three top Jamaican athletes recently testing positive for banned substances. Has that tarnished the remarkable achievements of Bolt and others? Many fans now wonder if your top athletes got where they are by cheating. This coming on the heels of the Ben Johnson affair. Canadians still remember Ben Johnson, even 25 years after the scandal that drove him from the Seoul Olympics. Johnson is of Jamaican ancestry as you may know. What is the Jamaican government doing to ensure that the success of your athletes is based on merit and not from steroids and other banned stimulants?
We don’t disclaim Ben Johnson or his heritage but he is Canadian for all intents and purposes. He is Canadian; he lived in Canada, trained in Canada and came to Canada as a child. None of his training program had anything to do with Jamaica. Ben was a part of the Canadian system up until the time that his drug use was found out. I don’t believe that fair minded Canadians would ascribe his drug use as linked with Jamaica. As an athlete, he was embraced by Canada, as a Canadian runner, that’s who he was. In any event , Usain Bolt and our athletes are probably the most tested athlete in the world. What is significant is that any potential drug use and again we have to discuss this in careful terms. As a lawyer myself, I am very careful that we don’t convict people on the basis of allegations. There have been charges made, those are being processed and we’ll see the outcome. What is significant is that those charges were found out by Jamaica’s own anti-drug institution. That evidence is a fact that we have very strong institutions, that we in tend to make our contribution to the elimination of the use of any performance enhancing drugs. Our athletes in and out of competition are being tested and those charged were caught out of competition. And that speaks to the vigilance of the Jamaican government and its systems. No doubt in so far as drug use is concerned, it’s a dynamic situation in which athletes the world over are tempted to sometimes use or unknowingly use different types of drugs which are being pushed to them and we have to keep up with those changes and changing environment and our athletes can be tested alongside other athletes. I believe that Jamaica proportionately has identified fewer drug users than any other athletes at that level of global competition. It is part of a problem that affects the sports track and field and Jamaica’s contribution in minimizing or eliminating drug use.
Finally, is there a message you wish to pass on the readers of Black Ottawa Scene, seeing as you’re here in Canada representing a government that is a major player among countries of people of African descent?
Our message is that Jamaica’s best years are ahead of it. We are excited about Jamaica’s prospects and as Jamaica grows, it will continue to make its contribution not only to the countries of Africa and Caribbean but to the entire global system. We’re inviting Jamaicans and other people of African descent to come to Jamaica to see and participate in what we are doing, because the impact and the effect will be not be just for Jamaica but globally.