KINGSTON, Jamaica – Perhaps we can now get down to a serious, coherent and fact-based analysis of Jamaica's trade relations with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and its membership in the Community. Up to now, that debate has been characterised largely by emotive rants, aimed primarily at Trinidad and Tobago, in which private-sector leaders merely ran with the crowd. Now, they are doing something far more sensible and of potential value. This week, four of the island's leading business-related groups – the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association and the Jamaica Exporters' Association – announced the establishment of a joint working group to review the economic implications of Jamaica's membership in the Community.
