Whether the current or future changes in Cuba become setbacks for Jamaica or opportunities depends on what the Jamaican private sector does and how quickly.

For sure, developments in Cuba are taking place more rapidly than had been anticipated because of the internal reforms and the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the United States, as the two states move to normalise their relations.

Clearly, normalisation of US-Cuban economic relations and the concomitant further integration of Cuba into the global economy will have an impact on Jamaica, starting with increased competition for the tourist industry. We should not be complacent about this competition by assuming that it is years away nor by talking about dual destination tourism.

Cuba will be very interesting to American investors and this could result in some diversion of investment from Jamaica as Cuba has a healthy, educated, low-wage labour force.

We must bear in mind that in a rapidly globalising world economy the only constant factor is change, which is taking place rapidly due to technological innovation which multiplies and speeds up every aspect of life.

Acceleration of economic transactions, local and international, is due to the intensity of global economic competition. Firms and countries have to continuously improve their competitiveness and productivity, by constant innovation, just to stay where they are in economic terms.

An economic opportunity anywhere in the world will be spotted by millions of entrepreneurs and producers all over the world. This means that anyone waiting until “tomorrow” to seize these opportunities will be too late. The imperative is to try to get there first and exploit that competitive advantage to pre-empt those to come after. Even those who enter the market second may be too late.

For our part, Jamaican companies – those operating in Jamaica and those hoping to export goods and services or operate businesses in Cuba – must move immediately, and the Government must do whatever it is able to do assist the companies affected by the opening up of Cuba and those that want to do business there.

In this regard we commend Jampro for hosting a timely and informative seminar for the CEOs of interested companies. More such should be held outside of Kingston as well and including small businesses.

Further, Jamaica’s diplomatic representation in Cuba urgently needs to be upgraded. It is now necessary for a high level politically connected person to become ambassador because access and influence depends on his or her political standing. The staff of the embassy needs to be increased in number and hopefully a savvy Jampro officer can be placed there.

It is our view that while there is the belief that Jamaica’s tourism sector can withstand competition from Cuba, it would be wise to establish a taskforce to monitor and plan a strategy to compete and to, if possible, collaborate with Cuba on airlift, eg out of China, and dual destination vacations.

We do not need any more political statements telling us how well we are doing. What is needed is a plan and the immediate implementation of proactive measures.

There is a lot of goodwill in Cuba for Jamaica, but nowadays everybody is a friend of Cuba. Friendship is good but it is no substitute for business. Opportunity waits for no man.