PRESIDENT of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce Anthony Chang told a gathering of business leaders that Jamaica’s image abroad would get a significant boost if this year’s election are fair and peaceful.

“I believe that violence-free and issue-based elections will do a lot to inspire investor confidence,” Chang said yesterday. He spoke to about 50 rent-a-car executives of the Jamaica U-Drive Association during a luncheon at the Courtleigh Hotel.

Chang praised a political pact between Prime Minister P J Patterson and Opposition Leader Edward Seaga as an important step toward ensuring peaceful elections.

The political leaders, during Tuesday’s session of parliament, signed an agreement that rejected violence and intimidation as political strategies. In addition, they endorsed a policy paper for a new multi-sector initiatives to combat crime.

Chang’s comments on reducing violence were not lost on the executives. They, along with hotel operators, saw their business fall off by about 22 per cent after last July’s violence in Tivoli Gardens, according to Michael Campbell, president of the U-Drive Association. Gun battles left 27 people dead and were widely reported in the international news media.

On another front, Chang told the tourism-dependent executives that Jamaica should continue to view tourism as one of its economic pillars — one that’s critical for future development.

“It’s a no-brainer,” he said. “The economy cannot grow without foreign exchange, and the best way to get it is to grow it.”

Regarding trade relations between Jamaica and the United States, Chang downplayed the US government’s controversial imposition of tariffs on some steel imports, along with a farm bill that increased massive subsidies for US farmers.

Such measures are “awkward,” Chang said, and “send an unfortunate signal” regarding free-trade. But he said Jamaicans “need to ask what is the real impact” on them.

He said he was not sure that there would be any substantial incremental cost in Jamaica’s economy because of the US measures.

He added that Jamaicans should be “guided by a high degree of pragmatism, and not emotion”.

Still, he stressed: “We must continue to lobby aggressively” to gain access to foreign markets.