Montego Bay businessman Mark Kerr-Jarrett was on Wednesday returned unopposed as president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the association’s annual general meeting.

The members of the chamber also returned Pauline Reid as first vice-president while Kaleith Solomon was elected second vice-president and Stephen Dear third vice-president.

Thirteen directors were also elected to serve during the next administrative year.

After his re-election Kerr-Jarrett, who is serving in that position for the third consecutive year, thanked the members of the association for their confidence and trust in him and pledged to continue representing the Chamber to the best of his ability.

He later told the Observer that during the new administrative year, the Chamber planned to be more proactive in carrying out its role and functions.

“We are going to take a more proactive role and we are going to look at a lot more activities that not just affect Montego Bay, but the region. We are also going to examine the key industries to see how best we can promote and enhance more businesses in those areas,” Kerr-Jarrett said.

He said the Chamber will also be making “certain demands” on the political representatives in the up-coming general elections.

“We are going to demand from the politicians that the election be on issues and not personalities and that attainable goals be set and we don’t want to see any promises that are obviously election promises and totally unattainable,” Kerr-Jarrett said.

He added that the Chamber would also be calling for what he termed “non-combative politics”.

“We want good management of the island and its resources. We need accountability, we need transparency, proven management technique and we want to see openness to public opinion and quick reaction to it,” Kerr-Jarrett said.

Meanwhile, the Chamber president has called on the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) to deliver on its promise to have a convention centre built in time for the March 2003 Montego Bay exposition.

Kerr-Jarrett explained that the show has not been held over the last two years, as the Chamber was unable to find a suitable venue to stage the event.

He added that for the last two years the Chamber was unable to get the cruise ship terminal to stage the exposition due to home porting of cruise ships.

“The UDC has however promised to construct a convention centre to stage the 2003 event,” Kerr-Jarrett said.

According to him, the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry wants to make the exposition a regional event.