Jamaica to benefit from trade facilitation portal

Friday, November 14, 2003

KINGSTON, Jamaica: The Jamaican government is moving to exploit the advantages offered by e-government and e-commerce through the implementation of the Jamaica Trade Point Portal, which places the country in a position to profit from opportunities in the global marketplace and achieve greater levels of economic performance.

Minister of Commerce, Science and Technology, Phillip Paulwell, said that the Trade Point Portal also placed entrepreneurs and companies in a position to plug into the global grid by allowing them to connect to and identify opportunities in overseas market electronically.

He was speaking at the launch of the facilitation portal Wednesday in Kingston.

In essence the Trade Point is a one-stop trade facilitation portal. Although still in its initial phase, the portal allows the trading community several advantages including, online payments of duties and user fees, completion of transactions online with relevant organizations by exporters and importers from the comfort of home and offices at any hour, the elimination of visits between ministries and agencies for each shipment by early 2004 and also improved customer satisfaction through the availability of information services offered online. 

It allows for increased efficiency in service provision resulting in the reduction of trade transaction costs and greater international competitiveness, in bringing together the service providers in trade transactions, namely the Jamaica Customs Department, Jamaica Promotions Corporation, the Trade Board, the Shipping Association of Jamaica, the Port Authority of Jamaica and Fiscal Services Limited which developed the system.

The Minister informed that the Electronic Transaction Act was ready and would be tabled in Parliament shortly, to ensure legal equivalence between digital and paper signature. 

Mr. Paulwell pointed out the harmful practice of cyber espionage and computer hacking, which he said, could negatively impact the advances being made. "We are going to deal with it almost simultaneously… we're going to be imposing severe penalties for persons who are engaged in cyber crimes, including imprisonment," he said. 

The Minister stressed that this was to enable persons involved in e-commerce to feel confident and comfortable in carrying out transactions without fear of their privacy being invaded. Mr. Paulwell noted that the role of the Trade Point was critical to the nation's thrust to encourage increased trade, diversification of the economy and increased prosperity.

Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Senator Deika Morrison, in addressing the function, said, "Jamaica Trade Point opens up a whole new world of trading arrangements and facilities, and positions Jamaica squarely in the global marketplace enabling our domestic firms and our country to achieve a greater level of competitiveness for economic survival." She pointed out that not only would Jamaica's goods and services be on the world market but also persons doing business in Jamaica could do so at their own convenience in real time. 

Minister of Development, Dr. Paul Robertson who also spoke at the launch said the development of the Trade Point was consistent with the thrust of the government and the Ministry to develop easy ways to reduce the complexity of doing business. "Jamaica Trade Point …will further enhance the competitiveness of our economy, help to boost investments and accelerate economic growth," he pointed out, adding that, "the government (was) committed to transforming the Public Sector through e-government solutions."

Revenues from trade, account for two thirds of the country's Gross Domestic Product. The Jamaica Trade Point mirrors the sophisticated system used in Singapore, which has successfully used similar information technology advancements to streamline and automate their trade documentation processes making that country a less expensive and more convenient location for trading investments. 

Today Jamaica joins over 150 trade point portals worldwide as a member of the world trade point federation. This year, in recognition of the country's efforts, Jamaica has been selected as the location for the fourth general assembly meeting, (December 4-5). This will mark the first time that this meeting is held in the hemisphere. 

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