Jamaica

Political relations

Technical and cultural cooperation is governed by agreements signed in 1972 and 1987. The reopening of the Embassy of France in Kingston in April 1999 helped to give fresh impetus to bilateral relations.

Economic relations

There are two main agreements between France and Jamaica, one on the encouragement and protection of investments, signed in January 1993, and the other on double taxation, signed in August 1995. The last financial protocol dates back to 1997.

French businesses are active in the infrastructure sector (Bouygues until 2012, water treatment for VINCI). Total and Rubis are involved in fuel distribution. Lafarge has a majority stake in a local cement works. CMA-CGM has chosen the port of Kingston as a regional hub and signed a contract with the Port Authority of Jamaica in April 2015, granting it the concession for a duration of 30 years for the Kingston Container Terminal. This contract, worth a total of €660 million, will make Kingston one of the top five Caribbean ports. In 2015, SOGET, an SME based in Le Havre, was awarded the contract for the management of the Port Community System (PCS) for the ports of Kingston and Montego Bay, with an offer of $25 million. It carries out regular maintenance operations and upgrades to facilities. In 2019, THALES won the coastal surveillance contract worth €32 million and is interested in several projects such as the construction of the police headquarters, which could be supported through a direct Treasury loan. The French company, through its affiliate GEMALTO, is in a good position to win the contract to produce national identity cards. SAGEM is active on the automated fingerprint database market and Vergnet provides wind turbines for the national electricity company. Neoen won the contract to build the biggest solar power plant in the Caribbean, with a capacity of 37 MW, for an estimated cost of $50 million, in the Westmoreland province in the south-west of Jamaica. Vinci Construction is involved in several projects including the expansion of the Pedro Plains irrigation system, following the feasibility study financed by France’s Private Sector Aid Fund (FASEP) carried out by Canal de Provence (total contract worth $170 million).

Proparco, an Agence Française de Développement (AFD/French Development Agency) affiliate, has supported the development of key infrastructures: the electricity grid, the highway (alongside Bouygues and Vinci) and the port of Kingston, operated by CMA-CGM, through four major projects signed for a total of $131 million.