Senator Aubyn Hill, minister of industry, investment, and commerce has been encouraging the investment and manufacturing communities to place greater emphasis on exports. The just-concluded Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA) expo held at the National Arena and National Indoor Sports Centre is a case in point.

Many of those who attended were blown away by the quality of the goods and services that were on display. It was a true tribute to our innovativeness and a clear indication of what we are capable of as a people. It put paid to the lie that one has to scam, steal, and lie one’s way to progress and that corruption and the easy way out are the true and proven paths to wealth.

The minister must be congratulated on the kind of energy he has been exerting in this regard. He is resolute in his belief that for us to truly become a wealthy nation we have to create goods and services that the rest of the world wants. Selling to ourselves alone will not guarantee prosperity. Selling to our Caricom neighbours, although essential, cannot guarantee us the wealth we seek. We are fishing in a narrow pond. The minister has been at pains to remind us that we have to reach beyond that small demographic to the wider world that is not yet buying the goods and services we are selling.

But the goodwill and energy of a minister will not be sufficient to get us where we want and ought to go. It cannot be gainsaid that the manufacturing sector has taken a beating over the years. In the heady days of the 1970s into the 1990s, the manufacturing sector suffered immensely from the reckless economic policies that were pursued by successive governments. Political malfeasance almost rendered the sector comatose. High interest rates, especially in the 1970s, culminating in the collapse of the financial sector in the 1990s made it difficult for us to manufacture products for local consumption, much less satisfy any international demand that existed. Manufacturers and other businesses were driven into the ground. Some left the country, never to return. This sounded the death knell to the entrepreneurial spirit that was emerging.

In recent years the sector has been able to shake off the “duppy” brought on by the Financial Sector Adjustment Company (Finsac) debacle. Many have been able to withstand the high cost of borrowing money and new players have entered the field. Those who lived through the depredations of the aforementioned eras will know that having the will to produce now is a tribute to the resilience of which the manufacturing sector must be proud.

It is clear that Minister Hill is seized of the need to give the sector the help it needs. His boundless optimism in believing in what the sector is capable of producing is palpable. Even more so is his belief that we must export or die.

One hopes that the sector will grow in strength, and if the recent JMEA expo is anything to go by, the future is very hopeful.

Dr Raulston Nembhard is a priest, social commentator, and author of the books Finding Peace in the Midst of Life’s Storms; The Self-esteem Guide to a Better Life; and Beyond Petulance: Republican Politics and the Future of America. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or stead6655@aol.com.