US Department of Commerce deputy chief of staff Rick Wade arrived in Jamaica on Wednesday as a part of a US Trade Mission organized by the American Chamber of Commerce of Jamaica (AMCHAM). Wade is a close friend of President Obama, and was an adviser at the beginning of his historic election campaign in Springfield, Illinois. He is currently the senior adviser to US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, a member of the President’s Cabinet.

Wade was leading a trade delegation of seven small and medium sized US businesses from the South Eastern United States (Atlanta Global Resources Inc, Atrium Shutters, Bon Trade International Corp, CMD Trailer Sales and Leasing Inc, Fast Enterprises LLC, Freeman Schwabe Machinery, Magna -Bon II LLC, Morton Supplies Inc, Palladio Beauty Group, and PGT Industries) seeking to forge partnerships with Jamaican businesses. According to Wade “We have companies that produce building materials, restaurant and medical equipment, hurricane shutters, trailers, software and information technology services, agricultural products, tires and cosmetics.”

Amcham Jamaica President Becky Stockhausen observes that this is the first US trade mission to Jamaica in at least a decade, and is particularly proud of the fact that the visit proceeded despite Jamaica’s recent negative headlines. She is also very pleased with the local response to the trade mission, with Amcham managing to arrange an impressive 63 match making meetings (an average of seven per company) over the three day visit.

Wade’s visit ends a three country trade mission to the Caribbean region, with his first stop having been to attend a investment conference put on by Amcham Haiti on June 10th and 11th under the theme “Building a New Haiti” in Montrouis, Haiti. At the conference, Wade observed that “the rebuilding and revitalization of Haiti are very much a priority for my boss, Secretary Locke; and his boss, President Obama.”Over US 10 billion dollars has been pledged by donor governments towards the rebuilding of Haiti over the next decade.

The conference had nearly 700 attendees, including companies from the US, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Wade stressed that in addition offering networking opportunities, important presentations on procurement processes were made by the United Nations Development programme (UNDP), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on the steps required to qualify for projects funded by their institutions.

Wade’s Haiti trip follows closely on the passing on May 7 of the HELP for Haiti Act by the US Congress. The Act is in two parts, a HOPE Act which specifically benefits Haiti e.g. expands Haiti’s duty-free access to the US clothing market, and the long awaited expansion of the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA), originally signed into law on May 18, 2000 by President Bill Clinton as part of the Trade and Development Act of 2000. Haiti’s disaster may have helped pass this preference trade programme, an extension of the original Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) in 1983, that had been scheduled to end in September, but has now been extended to 2020, allowing investors looking to export to the United States from the Caribbean to plan.

In an interview with Sunday Finance, Wade noted that a “Healthy Haiti is good for Jamaica”. He believes that US and Jamaican firms can work together toward “Building a New Haiti”. The key, he observes, is to first develop strong relationships.

Wade argues that there is a natural relationship between Jamaica and the United States due to our proximity to the US, our historical relationship, our existing commercial diplomacy, tourism, and the huge Jamaican population in the US

As a consequence, he believes there is “no limits to the opportunities that exist”, which in his view include areas such as energy, health care and education. Wade believes that the best antidote to Jamaica’s social problems, just as it is in the United States, is a strong economy and good jobs, which in turn create economically sustainable, viable communities.

However, Wade observed that to get an increased share of US foreign direct investment, Jamaica has to “step up and show us the money”, meaning the business opportunity behind any partnership between American and Jamaican companies, and invited “Jamaica to do more of what we are doing here today, and come to the US to the trade shows.”

At the Thursday evening cocktail party held at the US Embassy for the trade delegation, Minister Karl Samuda appeared to agree, noting that Jamaica, despite being next to the world’s largest market, had seen relatively little US investment in recent years.

A key impetus for Wade’s visit to the Caribbean is President Obama’s pro trade agenda to double US exports over the next five years to support the creation of two million US jobs. Wade’s colleague, Robert Jones, runs the US Commercial Services office for the region out of the Dominican Republic, the second country visited by Wade on his trip. A few years ago, the US had closed its commercial office in Kingston as a cost saving measure. Jones revealed that Jamaica may get “an office in the not too distant future”.

The US team took note of the improvement in Jamaica’s macro- economy following the Jamaica debt exchange, including the recent cut in the Bank of Jamaica interest rates to 9.0per cent, and the appreciation of the Jamaican dollar against the US dollar.

Coincidentally, leading US investment bank JP Morgan, in a note to clients on Friday by analyst Neeraj Arora, observed :

“The appreciation of the Jamaican dollar (+ 4.7 per cent ytd) in the face of falling interest rates indicates increasing confidence among local players of a post-debt exchange macro environment of relatively low inflation, declining nominal interest rates, and a stable currency. Separately, the BOJ also mentioned that Net International Reserves currently stand at US$1.75 billion, which is above the benchmark set under the IMF SBA for end-June.”