Seiveright pitches Jamaica to Dublin trade forum as open for investment after Melissa

Delano Seiveright, State Minister for Industry, Investment and Commerce, has again told overseas audiences that Jamaica remains ready to welcome investment, even after last year’s strike from Hurricane Melissa.

Addressing the Ireland–Latin America and Caribbean trade horizons forum in Dublin on Tuesday, the minister said the island has made strong headway in rebuilding from the category five storm.

He linked falling crime levels to a more favourable climate for commerce and trade. Seiveright also stressed Jamaica’s place on regional shipping routes, its logistics networks and a growing digital services industry, arguing that together these strengths make the country a prime English-speaking nearshore hub in the Americas.

On the corporate side, he named major Jamaican firms—Sandals Resorts International, GraceKennedy, Wisynco and Seprod—as engines of local and overseas investment, exports and growth.

Turning to bilateral ties, Seiveright spoke of deep cultural and historical links between Jamaica and Ireland, including shared endurance through hardship and active diaspora networks. He held up Digicel, established by Irish businessman Denis O’Brien, as a high-profile case of Irish capital succeeding in Jamaica and across the wider Caribbean.

The minister urged Irish and other international players to weigh joint ventures and direct investment in Jamaica across logistics, tourism, manufacturing, digital services, renewable energy, agro-processing and infrastructure.

His Dublin appearance sits within a broader export and investment push to Ireland and the United Kingdom, steered by the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce alongside the Jamaica Promotions Corporation, the Jamaica Special Economic Zone Authority and private-sector delegates.