KINGSTON-Ja­maica is en­cour­ag­ing pri­vate-pub­lic part­ner­ships as it seeks to de­vel­op the is­land's in­for­ma­tion com­mu­ni­ca­tion and tech­nol­o­gy (ICT) sec­tor, said Sharon Ffolkes Abra­hamas, ju­nior min­is­ter in the Min­istry of In­dus­try, In­vest­ment and Com­merce.

She said with an es­ti­mat­ed 26 com­pa­nies pro­vid­ing more than 13,000 jobs in the off­shore busi­ness process out­sourc­ing (BPO) sec­tor, the is­land was look­ing to ac­com­mo­date oth­ers want­i­ng to set up shop here.

"With­out any doubt, the lo­cal ICT sec­tor is ex­pe­ri­enc­ing a growth phase. We are see­ing for ex­am­ple, the en­trance of BPO gi­ants, such as Suther­land Glob­al Ser­vices, who will com­mence op­er­at­ing a Glob­al De­liv­ery Cen­tre at the UWI (Uni­ver­si­ty of the West In­dies) Mona cam­pus very soon.

"In­deed, with the cur­rent ex­pan­sion rate and pro­ject­ed growth of the ICT sec­tor, it is ex­pect­ed that some 5,000 jobs will be cre­at­ed over the next three years," Ffolkes Abra­hams said.

CANA