Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness arrived Monday, 15 May 2017, on an official visit. Fernando Gonzalez Nicolas, president of the Commonwealth Round Table in the Dominican Republic, has said the visit is an indication of the great interest of Jamaicans in strengthening political and commercial ties with the Dominican Republic.
Honorary consul for Jamaica in the Dominican Republic, Enrique de Marchena Kaluche, says the successes of Spanish investors in tourism in the country lead to Dominican construction firms working in Jamaica on the construction of resorts there.
De Marchena said other tourism companies operating in the Dominican Republic are also interested in expanding to Jamaica. The Dominican Republic has surpassed Jamaica as the preferred US vacation destination. De Marchena is a former president of the Caribbean Hotels Association.
Prime Minister Holness has said he would also look into promoting Jamaica and the Dominican Republic as multi-destination vacation plans. “When tourists come to the region we want them to have an easy time shuttling between Jamaica and the Dominican Republic; the idea is to have a multi-destination strategy to market the Caribbean,” he stated. At the present time it is very expensive to travel to Jamaica from the Dominican Republic.
Dominican investments in Jamaica have increased, and Holness would like to see more. González Nicolás highlights the significant Jamaican investments in the country in the financial and agro-industrial sectors in recent years. On occasion of the visit of Holness, González points to Jamaican companies operating the stock market broker Banco JMMB and to Jamaica Producers that manages banana plantations in the northwest. He said Dominicans have investments in Jamaica in the fertilizer sector and a Dominican company is the largest private generation company in Jamaica.
Likewise, in a press interview, Prime Minister Holness has described the Dominican market: “It is a significant market that does not operate in the sense of trade bloc but could potentially develop into a trade bloc with the loosening of trade and diplomatic issues between the US and Cuba.”
Holnes explained that Jamaica is one of the leading commercial partners of the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean. He said trade is US$103 million a year, with Dominican exports to Jamaica at US$56 million, and imports at US$47 million.
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The Business Year
16 May 2017
