Karl Samuda (left) and Phillip Paulwell face off at the Gleaner's Editors' Forum yesterday. Photographers Brown & Grindley

PHILLIP PAULWELL, the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Technology, has given the clearest indication yet that a future People's National Party (PNP) Government would not emphasise a revival of the garment industry, which has been declining drastically since the late 1990s.

However, both the Minister and his Opposition counterpart Karl Samuda have identified the information technology sector as a critical area of the services industry that needs to be developed to provide employment opportunities, especially for young people.

Mr. Paulwell, referring specifically to the 807 garment industry, which boomed in the 1980s and the early 1990s, said that "instead of flogging a dead horse, we need to leave certain sectors behind and move on to sectors that will provide for us growth and opportunity."

Speaking at The Gleaner's Editors' Forum at the company's North Street offices, downtown Kingston, yesterday, the Minister said the Government has, instead, been focusing on sectors such as

tourism, light manufacturing, agri-business and the information technology sector as mechanisms of providing employment and increasing economic growth.

In a debate with Mr. Samuda, the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) spokesman on Industry and Commerce, the Minister said he believed there has been greater convergence in relation to the Government and the Opposition, in so far as their commitment to an open market-type strategy for development was concerned.

However, "one of the reasons why we have not been able to achieve the kind of growth commensurate with the skills and talents of our people, has been because we have not been able to unite our people on some common objectives, recognising that there are certain areas that we are good at, and other areas that we are not so good at."

Mr. Samuda agreed that the information technology sector was critical to generating employment, but said it was a delicate industry that needed to be carefully managed to ensure that the country got value for its money.

There was also a convergence of views on the need to improve bureaucratic procedures that were impeding the efficient operation of businesses in the island, and the development of the small and micro-enterprise sector as part of a move to provide sustainable employment for young people both in rural and urban areas.

Mr. Paulwell said that last year, the country recorded more than US$700 million in foreign direct investments - a figure Mr. Samuda disputed - "but the fact is that we are seeing jobless growth. We are getting investments, we are getting growth, but we are not seeing employment being created and this will have to be a major focus for the future."

He also said the Government would be undertaking the long-awaited development of Port Royal as a cruise shipping facility. The project has not yet materialised, he said, because the Government had problems getting investors to put up the US$100 million required to do so. As a result, the Government would be moving to have the Port Authority of Jamaica develop the facilities along the lines pursued with the Port Antonio Marina in Portland.

On the other hand, Mr. Samuda said a JLP Government would emphasise the development of special economic zones and the establishment of state-funded community-based micro-enterprises as a means to curbing unemployment in inner-city communities and other areas.

To ensure Jamaica becomes competitive, the JLP would collaborate with academia, trade unions and the private sector to provide training for young people, given that, according to him, more than 80 per cent of the current workforce receive "absolutely no vocational training at all."

Posted: October 5, 2002