International investors have given Jamaica high marks for its investment climate and business prospects during the second Trade and Investment Days hosted by the Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO) recently at Jamaica House in the North Greenwich Arena, London.

Executives from several top companies took part in the JAMPRO-organised event, which featured an extensive business programme for buyers, distributors, and prospective investors against the backdrop of the ongoing Summer Olympics.

Garth Geddes of the United Kingdom-based beverage group Diageo, which owns the Red Stripe and Desnoes and Geddes brands in Jamaica, indicated that Red Stripe was a tremendous acquisition for Diageo. He noted that the company, which directly employs 600 people in Jamaica, was committed to the island.

"We are serious about the long-term partnership with Jamaica. Over the last four or five years, we have invested in excess of $3 billion into capital projects and improvements."

Geddes pointed out that much of Diageo's investment in Jamaica has gone into innovation, producing a new rum, and expanding its plant in Kingston to accommodate the bottling of some of the company's global brands like Smirnoff. He noted that the country stood to benefit from the expansion of the Panama Canal now under way, based on its strategic location and proximity to the North American and Latin American markets.

Nick Cooper, executive director of Cable and Wireless, declared that Jamaica was undoubtedly punching above its weight.

"We have been in Jamaica for well over 130 years. We have tremendous longevity and that is because we want to be there. We are big investors in Jamaica and we employ 1,300 people directly. Over the last five years, I think we have invested three quarters of a billion dollars in Jamaica," stated Cooper.

New investor Naanovo, a UK-based waste-to-energy firm, has partnered with a Jamaican company to set up a power plant that will convert garbage into electricity. Anthony Fiddy, managing director of Naanovo UK, is positive about the partnership with Jamaican businessman Mark Dennis and his family on this project. The power plant will be set up under a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) agreement, which will see it being transferred to the government after 25 years.

"We have formed the company and I have had meetings with all the relevant parties and they have all agreed to support the project. It's now a question of putting the project together," he said.

Another new investor, the Glasgow-based ISOCON Engineering Limited, will soon start operations in the Kingston Free Zone. The company has more than 35 years of experience in the cleaning, repairing, and refurbishing of ISO containers. The company's director, Michael Kane, said that the aim is to improve the time taken to fill up containers of rum for export, thus helping to increase the volume of exports and earnings.