GOVERNMENT is seeking to establish a partnership with China that will see Jamaica becoming an assembler of Chinese products destined for the Caribbean and Europe, according to Minister of Industry and Commerce Karl Samuda.

The minister said he discussed the idea with his counterparts in China during a recent trip there. He said he was very impressed by the progress China had made since his visit in the 1980s when he was a junior minister in the Jamaican government.

"What I sought to do in my discussions with them is to partner with them, invite them to be our big brothers, allowing us to assemble some of the goods they manufacture, where we could have sufficient transformation to quality for duty concessions, especially in CARICOM and in the EU (European Union)," Samuda told a gathering of manufacturers, exporters and government officials yesterday.

The minister said this was possible because the manufacture of different parts of one product often takes place in several different countries.

Conceding that in the field of manufacturing "Jamaica is perhaps about where China was 30 years ago", Samuda said an arrangement with China would lay the foundation for a stronger manufacturing sector in Jamaica.

The minister was speaking at the launch of the Jamaica Manufacturers Association/Jamaica Exporters Association (JMA/JEA) Expo 2010 at the JMA's offices in downtown Kingston.

Samuda also disclosed that the Scientific Research Council (SRC) would play a greater role in driving innovation in manufacturing in the country. He urged investors to take advantage of the opportunities there, and to market the products developed by the SRC.

Meanwhile, JMA president Omar Azan chided the government for increasing the rates to strip containers from US$35 to US$200 per container, and for imposing new requirements to apply to the Ministry of Agriculture for duty waivers on agricultural inputs.

Samuda admitted that bureaucratic red tape was having "a strangulating hold on businesses across the country" and promised to work with stakeholders in addressing the matter.

Meanwhile, JEA president Vitus Evans noted that the export of goods and services declined by 7.6 per cent and 0.7 per cent respectively in last quarter of 2009. He said challenges to exporters included non-tariff barriers, and new food safety and export security requirements.

The Expo, to be held at the National Arena from June 17 to 20, will showcase products from art and craft, business, chemical fashion, information and communications technology, minerals and metals, packaging and labelling, and textiles and apparel.

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