KINGSTON, JAMAICA—Jamaica Promotions (JAMPRO), Jamaica's Trade and Investment agency, Is making final preparations to host the second staging of the Jamaica Investment Forum (JIF) at the Montego Bay Convention Centre March 10 to 12, 2015. The forum will see executive level representatives from 90 organizations gather.

The JAMPRO organized forum is Jamaica's premier international investment and business conference. It is designed for eager investors and business executives, who want to discover business opportunities and industry developments, learn about alternative emerging opportunities and discuss Jamaica's business climate.

To date, some 2,000 jobs have been generated as a result of the inaugural Forum in 2012, and over $500 million worth of projects advanced. According to JAMPRO president and CEO Diane Edwards compared to the last forum, this year's event is much more focused on marketable or bankable projects.

“We have undertaken a broad consultation with public and private sector to identify collaboration opportunities for PPP, sale, lease, and joint venture,” says Edwards. “We have also undertaken direct targeting of investors for these projects. On top of that, we have over US$1 billion dollars' worth of projects on show for investors.”

Aegis, The Unipharm Group, CEMEX, Accor Hotels & Resort, Apple Leisure Group, Melia Hotels International, and Wyndham Hotel Group are among the participating companies. While most of the investors are from North America, a number of delegates from China, France, India Pakistan, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom are registered to attend.

Edwards says there will be a particular emphasis on the number of growth areas, including Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). That has translated to a need to accelerate employment growth.

“We will also focus on logistics due to its transformative opportunity for the Jamaican economy impacting on export competitiveness and our ability to access global value chains; new opportunities in tourism, such as health, wellness and medical tourism; and financial services, where Jamaica as a new, highly compliant jurisdiction, with world class legislation, will become a serious competitor for companies and individuals looking to place their funds in non-harmful jurisdictions,” says Edwards.

Jamaica's Prime Minister the Most. Hon. Portia Simpson-Miller will deliver the keynote address at the opening ceremony. Other speakers include: Dr. Peter Phillips, Finance Minister; Hon. Anthony Hylton, Industry, Investment & Commerce Minister; Anabel Gonzales, senior director for Group Global Practice on Trade and Competitiveness at the World Bank; Dr. Alejandro Werner, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Western Hemisphere Director; Shinji Yamamoto, Chief Investment Officer for Global Infrastructure, International Finance Corporation; Jon Habeski, senior vice president, Vistaprint, and BeNeLux-France Jacques Nyssen, head of Export Finance, Commerzbank.