Jamaica's National Export Strategy 2015-2019: A Market-Driven Approach

This issue of Trade Express focuses on the support provided by The Commonwealth Secretariat’s Trade Division to the National Export Strategy (NES) Secretariat to design Jamaica’s second NES. The design process took place over a nine-month period, in which key stakeholders engaged in a participatory process to define the country’s priorities for export growth. The new NES was launched in August 2015 in Kingston, Jamaica. The key goal of the strategy is to position the country for a ‘market-driven approach to export development.’ The prioritised sectors under the NES 2015-2019 are agriculture and agro-processing (including nutraceuticals), mining, film and animation, information technology enabled services and manufacturing. Additionally, five cross-cutting or functional strategies have been identified to support the development of an enabling environment for export. These include a focus on lowering the transaction cost of trading across borders, improving standards and quality management, whilst enhancing supply capacity.