Minister Hill Urges Focus on Service Delivery among MIIC Agencies

Senator the Honourable Aubyn Hill, newly appointed Minister to the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce (MIIC) on Tuesday, January 19, charged his heads of departments and agencies to partner with him to serve people, investors and businesses differently by ensuring that MIIC does everything possible to implement the Government’s mandate to facilitate, encourage and enable entrepreneurs and businesses to grow their enterprises, and create new jobs for many more Jamaicans.
Speaking in a hybrid meeting from the Terra Nova Hotel in St. Andrew, Minister Hill was emphatic in his call. “Our responsibility is to serve people from every walk of life – in urban and rural areas; the man in Downtown Kingston, hustling to create a legal business; all our people across the country, wherever they may be. If you are not operating with a service mindset, you are operating in the wrong ministry. We have to serve people differently,” Minister Hill encouraged.
He challenged the department and agency heads to improve the ease of doing business, move swiftly to address and change procedural challenges which stymie growth, and work through bottlenecks until success is achieved.
“If you are not producing value, you are wasting taxpayers’ money,” he warned.
The minister expressed his availability to hear recommendations that would improve processes and committed to work with the team to serve Jamaicans better. He underscored that the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce must see itself as one committed to driving growth, to partnerships, and to supporting both intra- and inter-ministerial collaboration to ensure the country’s economic prosperity and stability. We are to find constantly good and new local and foreign direct investors to help and facilitate in order to build and grow the Jamaican economy and create new jobs.
Minister Hill assumed leadership of the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce in January 2022 following changes to the Executive announced by Prime Minister Andrew Holness. Eighteen (18) agencies, two departments and four divisions, fall under the Minister’s portfolio, including the Consumers Affairs Commission (CAC); Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC); Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO); the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ); the Companies Office of Jamaica; the Trade Board Limited; and the Jamaica Business Development Corporation.