Delegation of investors from Saudi Arabia to visit Jamaica this week

Jamaica is set to welcome its largest delegation of potential investors from the Middle East this week, the tourism ministry says. 

 It follows months of negotiations led by Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett and Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Senator Aubyn Hill. 

Bartlett says the group of over 70 private sector players and government officials from Saudi Arabia will arrive in Jamaica on Friday. 

The group will include investors in logistics, agriculture, tourism and hospitality, infrastructure and real estate, a tourism ministry statement said Tuesday. 

Bartlett said this will be the “largest and strongest group of investors to ever come to Jamaica from the Middle East”. 

They will be shown different investment options in the corporate area, Montego Bay, and other parts of the island.

Bartlett says Jamaica is working with the delegation to establish a logistics centre in Jamaica, which will allow goods and services that are needed to drive tourism across the region to be produced by and exported from Jamaica.

The visit follows a series of meetings involving Bartlett, Saudi Arabia's Tourism Minister, Ahmed Al Khateeb and Senator Hill. Al Khateeb visited Jamaica last year. 

Meanwhile, Bartlett is to leave the island today for the Dominican Republic for the first Caribbean Saudi Arabia Summit for talks on investment opportunities in the region and other areas of collaboration.

The summit comes amid efforts to finalise the implementation of a multi-destination tourism framework to encourage growth in the sector. Mexico, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Panama and Cuba have been key players in the negotiations.

Bartlett is scheduled to return to Jamaica on Thursday.

He led a delegation to Saudi Arabia in May. 

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