Jamaican ambassador Richard L. Bernal on Jamaica's contemporary business environment

Natural beauty is often thought to be the Caribbean's real resource. Jamaica, located in the Caribbean Sea, benefits from this natural splendor of mountains, plains, plateaus, and waterfalls, but also from its people, whose charm and elegance are unsurpassed. Historically, there has been considerable global interest in the Caribbean Sea in general and in Jamaica in particular because of the natural, social, strategic, and economic resources which this region possesses. Today, the contemporary global business environment and the dynamics of hemispheric free trade in the Americans create new and complex challenges for the region's natural and human resources. This article will first present a background to the recent economic and political events which have placed Jamaica as a critical, stable, and important player in the Caribbean Basin economy. The remainder of the article will be based on an interview with Ambassador Richard L. Bernal,1 who will offer an assessment of Jamaica's commitment to economic stabilization, infrastructure capability, foreign investment incentives, financial and trade services, and democratization. In addition, Dr. Bernal provides an evaluation of the relationship of Jamaica and the Caribbean Basin with the United States in the post‐cold war liberal economy. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.