THE Government will be placing focus on the build-out of the Caymanas enterprise zone as it looks to boost job creation.

“We will work very closely with the Office of the Prime Minister on the development of the Caymanas enterprise zone where we are hoping to have a combination of local investment and foreign investment in that facility,” said new Minister of Industry, Commerce and Agriculture Karl Samuda.

He said that the objective is to expand and create opportunities for the business processing outsourcing (BPO) sector, and for the employment of the mass population that exists in Southern St. Catherine and the Southern side of Kingston and St Andrew.

“That’s a job expansion, growth potential area that we are going to focus on,” he said.

Minister Samuda was speaking to JIS News, shortly after taking the oath of office, during a ceremony for the swearing-in of Ministers at King’s House on Monday.

He said he welcomed the merger of the industry and commerce portfolios with agriculture, as it “opens the doors for a lot of opportunities for growth and for expansion in industry and in agriculture”.

He contended that the union will create “the kinds of meaningful linkages” that can drive productivity and job creation.

Samuda noted that he is looking forward to working with Minister without Portfolio JC Hutchinson, who he said is a very experienced agriculturalist, and a trained practising farmer.

“We are going to sit down and look at where we can divide the load. Obviously, he is going to take most of that from agriculture and I will be emphasising a lot of the Industry and Commerce side of things.

“We will see how we can establish the linkages between the two (portfolios) and then set out to work very closely with the private sector …to enhance their productivity, their output and the whole production of products that are used, for instance in the tourism industry,” he said.

For new Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton, his immediate area of focus is addressing the Zika virus and H1N1.

“(We have) to play our part as a Government through the health care system, whether through vaccination or otherwise, to better protect ourselves or to treat the peoplewho are infected. That is likely to be my immediate issue, and I intend to be briefed over the next day or so and then take appropriate action from there,” he said.