WESTERN BUREAU — Government and private sector leaders emerged from three days of talks at the Ritz Carlton Rose Hall Hotel in Montego Bay yesterday and identified tourism, information technology, manufacturing and construction as the sectors to receive special attention to kick-start the economy.

At the same time, both sides said they had built an action plan to stimulate investment around two primary conditions — the reduction of crime, violence and praedial larceny; and a reduction in the cost of capital.

“What we have done is to identify the areas that offer the best possibility of contributing to growth in the medium term and seeking to concentrate on them,” Prime Minister P J Patterson said in his closing remarks to the summit.

He, however, identified tourism as the main catalyst for growth, because of its linkages with other areas of the economy.

But Patterson noted that for tourism to achieve its growth objectives, the industry needed new attractions.

“We will have to expand on the product by creating new attractions and we will have to continue to build the requisite infrastructure,” Patterson said.

He added that both parties had identified the possibility of home porting for cruise ships as an area that offers “a very exciting possibility”.

Last year, the country earned just over US$100 million from tourism, but industry officials contend that the sector has the potential to earn significantly more.

The private sector leaders believe that a huge chunk of that extra revenue could come from the introduction of casino gambling, which is not legally offered here.

“It is one of the areas we have identified for growth,” Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica president Beverly Lopez said yesterday. “We have, therefore, agreed to carry out a study where we will look at the economic benefits versus the social implications.”

Lopez, who headed the private sector delegation to the summit, described the three days of talks as successful.

“We have determined areas of growth and we do have actionable items,” she said in closing remarks.

She said it was agreed that growth in the short term could take place in the areas of tourism, agro-business, construction and information technology.

“Within those sectors,” she said, “we were able to put some concrete things that we will be working on to produce much needed jobs and growth in the economy.”

Lopez said a monitoring team, headed by the prime minister, and including Finance Minister Omar Davies, other Government ministers and members of the private sector, would be put in place to examine the various projects.

That team will meet quarterly to monitor progress and implementation of the key initiatives discussed.

Both sides, a joint communiqué from the summit said, “accepted that further mechanisms needed to be developed to lower interest rates in order to facilitate the expansion of existing projects and stimulate real sector investments”.

The containment of debt as a percentage of GDP, as well as the elimination of the deficit over three years, were also agreed to by both sides.

“Discussions on information technology,” the communiqué said, “included the possibility of producing phone cards and … the refurbishing of cellular phones for the export market,”.

The communiqué also said that short-term initiatives aimed at curbing crime outlined by National Security Minister Peter Phillips were supported by the private sector leaders, who “committed their ongoing support in the fight against crime”.

Hotelier Gordon “Butch” Stewart told the Observer that he was hopeful that something good would come out of the talks.

“I think the Government has an open ear, I think they want to see the thing succeed and I think there were men in the room who had a grasp of what is happening in the country,” Stewart said. “I am really, really hopeful that this meeting is a catalyst because the country is in a bad state.”