Mariangela Zappia, Italian ambassador to the United States, the Bahamas and Jamaica, was in Jamaica to meet with Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith and Environment Minister Matthew Samuda. The purpose of the trip is to relaunch the presence of Italian entrepreneurship in the country and in the Caribbean. But what is the Italian entrepreneurial presence in the country? Italian investments in Jamaica are substantial and diversified and trade has more than doubled in 2022 compared to the previous year. Italian entrepreneurs have been investing in tourist facilities for years, especially in the areas between Negril and Ocho Rios. Among the Italian groups in Jamaica, Campari stands out, which has made significant investments both by acquiring the largest local rum producers and by building new structures for the relaunch of the sector. There are also groups such as Crif, in the financial services industry, Colacem (cements), Eridania (sugar), while the company Ansaldo has been engaged for years in the country in the construction of an oil pipeline in the port of Kingston. However, as Zappia says, “great opportunities are opening up in Jamaica for Italian companies also in the sectors of renewable energy, on which we are world leaders, and infrastructure, whose development will be jointly supported by the European Union and the United States, as emerged at the last meeting of the Trade and Technology Council at the beginning of December”.
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