What’s At The Heart Of All This Goat Islands, Logistics Hub Argument – J-O-B-S!

While Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Anthony Hylton is urging the public to exercise patience in making a judgement on the proposed development of Goat Islands as a trans-shipment and logistics port, it doesn’t go unnoticed that at the heart of all this argument the key issue is clear, the economy yes, but also J-O-B-S!

Who will get the jobs? Where, when and how? Because even though it is known that China thinks we’re lazy, it cannot be said that we are taking their money and giving them all the jobs! So here’s how Minister Hylton decides to address the issue, as reported by the Jamaica Observer (emphasis added);

Hylton said that the public should not rush into judgment on the issue of the ratio of Jamaican workers to foreign workers, who will benefit from jobs created in the hub. He also insisted that the major point that he has been making, and which he believes has been misunderstood, is that the country must get its people ready for the jobs, and they must have “world-class training and world-class standards” to be employed in the hub.

“The logistic hub is a global asset, so there can’t be two standards; there can’t be a Jamaican standard and a global standard. It is one standard, a global standard… We will be integrating Jamaica into the global economy in the most direct way, dealing with the connectivity to the hub and the integrated activities with the global value chain and supply chain, which will link us into the global training system and the global production system,” he stated.

“So, it is very important that we place due emphasis on training our people to a world-class standard, which can be the only standard,” he added.

Well, there’s an opportunity (job) for training agencies, let’s get started then!