IMPACT ON JAMAICA

Jamaican private sector to benefit from energy partnership with Brazil

Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller, has said that Jamaica’s partnership with Brazil in the bio-fuels industry offers significant opportunities for the private sector, in the areas of energy, tropical agriculture and food processing.

"The bio-fuels industry offers significant business opportunities and Jamaica’s partnership with the world leader in bio-fuels presents our private sector with new possibilities," she stated.

The Prime Minister, who was addressing the closing of the Brazil/Jamaica business forum and seminar on Thursday in Kingston, urged the private sector members to take advantage of the partnership to create wealth not only for themselves, but for the country.

"The governments of Jamaica and Brazil are united in the view that while the state is a facilitator, it is the private sector which represents the main engine of economic growth. It is the private business people, who, through their ingenuity, initiative and entrepreneurship, create jobs and really transform economies," she pointed out.

Brazil is a strong player in the international biofuels industry and is second only to the United States in terms of the production of ethanol, but is the world leader in terms of affordable production of the product.

"As the world desperately seeks to lessen its reliance on fossil fuels, Brazil’s emphasis on and world leadership in bio-fuels make it a country of the future," the prime minister noted.

In the meantime, she has expressed satisfaction with the increasing level of cooperation between Jamaica and Brazil.

"We in Jamaica are very excited about the possibilities of deeper cooperation with Brazil, a regional power in the hemisphere and one of the most influential countries in the emerging world," she stated.

Brazil, she said, is now commonly referred to as one of the ‘Brics’ in the world economy along with Russia, India and China and "we are very happy to be aligned with the ‘B’ in the Brics. We are proud of the achievements of our hemispheric partner, Brazil, and we look forward to developing many mutual advantageous projects."

The Brazilian president, Luiz Inacia "Lula" da Silva, during his one day working visit to Jamaica, participated in the opening of a US$20 million ethanol plant, built by Jamaica Broilers Limited at Port Esquivel in St. Catherine.

The two leaders also discussed issues such as energy, science and technology, education, sports and culture, the sugar industry as well as social development.

Brazil has already made a commitment to provide training to Jamaicans in production and management practices in the sugar industry, as well as identifying various sugar cane varieties that are adaptable to Jamaican conditions, including those resistant to drought.

(Caribbean Net News)