“We are going to clean up the Crime in Jamaica” Finance Minister Audley Shaw Stated which continues to stifle the prospects of new investment in Jamaica.

The recent stand off between the police and armed criminals in West Kingston some three weeks ago that reaped havoc on the country’s image internationally, is the not the kind of portrait which readily attracts investors and the Minister of Finance is well aware of this.

“In recent days we have sent a signal, that we are going to be totally intolerable with the levels of crime that has be going on for far too long” Shaw said at the official opening of the 30 th annual Caribbean Insurance Conference at Ritz Carlton Golf and Spa Resort in Montego Bay.

“It’s going to be a multifaceted approach,” the minister charged, “so that no community is left behind and that self-appointed crime lords do not set up themselves as mayors and prime ministers within communities. That can’t work …regardless of the political consequences!”

The formal and informal commerce in downtown Kingston suffered heavily in the aftermath of the May 24 raid into Tivoli Gardens to served an arrest warrant to Michael Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke for his extradition. Coke, the reputed 'area don' for West Kingston, is wanted by the United States for drug running and gun smuggling.

“We are country that have far too much potential, we have too much capacity for success for growth to allow a few hundred misguided people to hold the country to ransom. The time has come for the change!” Shaw stated unapologetically to the group of business professionals.

The Insurance Association of the Caribbean is hosting its 30th Annual Caribbean Insurance Conference, which is the platform for professionals in the insurance industry. Operating under the theme “What Lies Ahead” the conference will run from June 13-15. Approximately 500 delegates from Europe and North America and other territories in South America and the Caribbean were present at the conference.