Above: the Chinese embassy in Jamaica

Above: the Chinese Embassy in Jamaica (Photo: Chinese Embassy)

Jamaican Minister of Finance Audley Shaw said an invitation has been extended to the Chinese to expand their investments in the country.

Shaw, who was speaking at the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce’s lunch forum at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Tuesday, said the offer was given during his recent visit to China.

“I said, ‘we have the capacity for investments and to absorb investments,’ he said. “‘And we have a private sector here that is vibrant, that is growing.'”

Three government-run sugar factories in Jamaica were divested to State-owned Chinese company Complant Sugar International Limited last year, in an investment that could yield $200 million, Shaw said.

“I have already directed the Development Bank of Jamaica and the Urban Development Corporation to prepare a short list of projects that could lend themselves to private/public sector partnerships, or private sector partnerships,” he said.

According to Shaw, he received a positive response from Chinese officials.

“We can’t borrow our way anymore,” he said. “I believe thee is too much capacity for invention, for hard work, for efficiency and for risk taking, that if we come together with a giant like China, then we can be a little China, right here in the Caribbean.”

–Jamaica Information Service