Wykeham McNeil (centre), the junior minister of industry and tourism; Tang Jianguo (right), president of China National Complete Plant Import and Export Corporation; and Peter Melhado, director of Jamaica Cricket 2007 Ltd express pleasure at the signing of an agreement for the Chinese Government to loan funds to build the Greenfield Stadium in Trelawny. The deal was signed Thursday at the China-Caribbean Trade and Economic Forum held at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

Jamaica and China on Thursday signed another framework agreement, this time for a concessionary loan to build the Greenfield Cricket Stadium in Trelawny, a move that will see the Chinese Government putting up at least the US$30-million needed for the project.

The agreement was one of eight signed between the Asian country and Caribbean nations at Thursday's second and final day of the China-Caribbean Trade and Economic Forum held at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston, that featured, among other events, a ministerial conference and a business to business match-making session.

"What we will be doing is getting a loan from China at concessionary rates which will be used to fund the building of Greenfield Cricket Stadium," Wyekham McNeil, the junior minister in the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, told the Observer.

Only recently it was revealed that the Government would bypass a recommendation by the National Contracts Committee to award the multi-million dollar contract to the French construction firm Bouygues International in favour of the Chinese offer.

Bouygues, which won the franchise to build and operate the island's first toll road - Highway 2000 - was among three firms that had bid to design and build the Greenfield stadium which is slated to host the warm-up matches during the Cricket World Cup to be held in the Caribbean in 2007.

Thursday's framework agreement was signed between Jamaica Cricket 2007 Limited and China National Complete Plant Import and Export Corporation (Group) commonly known in China as COMPLANT.

The Beijing-based COMPLANT is a comprehensive enterprise for foreign trade and economic co-operation under the central administration.

It has been entrusted by the Chinese Government to undertake the administration and implementation of the China-aided economic, technological and complete plant projects in foreign countries, and has also started its contracting business to build international engineering projects and send workers and technicians to work abroad.

Aside from the Greenfield project, there were other agreements ranging from trade to agriculture, and in the case of Cuba, a special prorated agreement between China Southern Airline and Cuban Aero Caribbean.

There were also two agreements at the inter-governmental level - a guiding framework of economic and trade co-operation between China and the Caribbean and an Approved Destination Status Memorandum.

McNeil said the two-day forum was a success, as there was much to be gained from the contacts made between regional businesses and their Chinese counterparts.

According to McNeil, the day featured 500 participants in 330 arranged business meetings involving 100 Caribbean companies and 44 Chinese entities. Among the highlights of the day were two seminars titled 'How to Trade in China' and 'Caribbean Investment Environment'.

The latter enabled participants to "reflect on the enabling framework for investment in the region, the experience of global investors in the Caribbean, telecommunications and services and potential challenges for investors in the region. The former facilitated discussions on the areas of manufacturing, finance, Caribbean industry, information technology and Caribbean logistics.

"I am sure that the foundation for many successful partnerships was forged," McNeil declared at a later press conference. "This clearly reflects an auspicious beginning to a new dimension in Chinese-Caribbean relations, and I look forward to even greater developments in the years ahead."

China's vice-minister of commerce, An Min, said the event was just the beginning of a "bright and promising future".

The feedback, Min said. "has been positive" and has laid a "new foundation for partnership and growth".

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