JBDC TO HOST TRADE FAIR FOR CARICOM CONFERENCE

KINGSTON, June 30 (JIS):

Several countries across the region will participate in the CARICOM Trade Fair, which will be held as part of the 24th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), from July 2-5 in the tourist resort city of Montego Bay, St. James.

Marie Casserly, Director of Marketing and Communications at the Jamaica Business Development Centre (JBDC), the organisers of the event, told JIS News that the trade fair, themed ‘Products of CARICOM: Science and Technology, a Tool for Development’, will demonstrate the impact that science and technology (S&T) has had on micro, small and medium sized businesses. “This is the reason why JBDC was asked to lead the presentation, because it is our mandate to focus on that grouping of enterprises and provide services to them,” she noted.

Miss Casserly explained that in keeping with the 30th anniversary celebrations of CARICOM, the JBDC had designed a special logo to promote the event, which would involve product and poster displays from Jamaica and five other CARICOM territories - Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and St. Lucia.

Several institutions are expected to participate in the event, to demonstrate how their services support the small business sector. These institutions, inclusive of financial entities and organisations, will make presentations, mount displays and demonstrations of their particular practices. There will also be public interaction and Internet access points. “It is going to be quite an impressive show,” Miss Casserly boasted, adding that there would be a number of investment promotion agencies from the five CARICOM territories that will participate. The CARICOM Secretariat will also stage its own exhibit.

Stating that the Jamaican exhibition “is going to be large,” Miss Casserly said it would entail a showcase of authentic products under the Things Jamaican brand, which the JBDC manages.

The science and technology component of the trade fair, she informed, would cover seven categories, comprising research development, standards and regulations, financing, product and technology transfer, business development services, and information and communication technology. The National Commission on Science and Technology (NCST) is expected to lead this effort.

Miss Casserley said it was hoped that a number of significant partnerships would be secured through the fair. “We are expecting to forge strong ties between the institutions here and in the region, which provide support services to the small business sector. We really hope to grow JBDC locally and regionally. We have done other projects in other territories in the Caribbean, most recently in Guyana, and we think that through this event, we will create even stronger bridges and open up more possibilities to provide our services regionally,” she told JIS News.

She urged the public to come out and support the event, which will be held in the Cornwall Room of the Half Moon Hotel from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day, except for July 2, when the activities will close off an hour early to accommodate the opening ceremony of the CARICOM conference.