JAMAICA: 2009 HERBERT SALZMAN AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN

UNCLAS KINGSTON 000320

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EEB EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FRANCISCA HELMER
EEB/EX AWARDS COORDINATOR DEBRA STRUDWICK
HR/PE ANNUAL AWARDS
WHA/CAR - VELIA DEPIRRO, WILLARD SMITH, ANDREW CADIEUX

SANTO DOMINGO FOR FCS AND FAS

TREASURY FOR ERIN NEPHEW

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: APER ECON BEXP ETRD AMGT EAIR SOCI IBRD IMF CDB IBD
JM, XL
SUBJECT: JAMAICA: 2009 HERBERT SALZMAN AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE; NOMINATION FOR

REF: (A) STATE 18801 (272154Z FEB 09)
(B) 08 KINGSTON 883 (091624Z OCT 08)

1.(SBU) This cable conveys the nomination of Embassy Kingston's
Economic Officer, FS-03 Nathan C. Carter, for the 2009 Herbert
Salzman Award for Excellence in International Economic Performance.
The nominator is Kingston Political-Economic Counselor Lloyd W.
Moss; Charg d' Affaires James T. Heg endorses the nomination.
Reftel (B) provides an example of a reporting cable as supporting
documentation. Post appreciates Department's consideration of Mr.
Carter's nomination.

(Begin Text of Nomination)
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Jamaica's economic and social interaction with, and dependence on,
the USA is broad and deep. Over the course of the last year, the
island nation's economy has weathered the most severe storms since
the 1930s. Negative growth; a crushing debt burden; resurgent
inflation; high unemployment; currency depreciation; contracting
tourism, mining, shipping, and remittances; inefficient tax
collection; unsustainable losses by state-owned entities; severe
hurricane damage to agriculture; and per capita rates of murder and
oil importation among the world's highest - all have combined to
raise an ominous specter: unless the USA wants another Haiti on its
doorstep within a decade, we must help Jamaica meet these formidable
challenges. Mr. Nathan Carter is doing so -- in ways as innovative
as they are impressive.

Last year, The Economist magazine ranked Jamaica among the worst
places in the world to pay taxes, with byzantine regulations and
abysmal compliance rates. To help the Ministry of Finance design
and implement reforms sought by the newly-elected Government, Nathan
contacted the U.S. Department of the Treasury to seek assistance
from the Office of Overseas Technical Assistance (OTA). On the
strength of several excellent cables he had drafted on tax reform,
and using funding he had obtained through USAID, OTA sent a
six-person assessment team to visit Kingston. This delegation had
one week of intensive meetings with the highest levels of the
Ministry of Finance, in addition to major stakeholders in the
private sector. Their assessment is an important tool for
developing strategies for widening the tax net and increasing
revenue collection in Jamaica - both crucial to the country's
future. Teams from OTA will return for another eight weeks to help
address issues and implement reforms indentified in the assessment.

To reduce Jamaica's sky-high oil imports, Nathan has assisted the
Government of Jamaica (GoJ) in efforts to help develop the island's
potential for renewable energy. Under the auspices of the Embassy
Science Fellow program, he prepared an innovative proposal to bring
a USA-based expert in renewables to assist the Ministry of Energy
over several months with structuring and implementing its ambitious
biofuels initiative. Nathan also serves as a member of the GoJ's
recently established Biofuels Task-Force, and coordinates closely
regarding Jamaica's participation in the U.S.-Brazil Biofuels
Partnership, under which the GoJ will receive some $250,000 in
technical assistance from the OAS.

Nathan's work with the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) on
projects to foster trade and business development has been of
critical importance to the GoJ's fiscal prospects, which cannot
improve until it divests the beleaguered national carrier Air
Jamaica. He played a key role in arranging a $820,000 USTDA grant
to the Ministry of Finance to assist in the privatization of the
airline, and coordinated the visit of the USTDA Director Larry
Walther and Country Manager for the Andean and Caribbean Regions
Jorge Esteban for the signing ceremony. They wrote in appreciation:
"We at USTDA are very grateful for the work you do in country and
for the fine support you provide USTDA on a regular basis. We look
forward to continuing our relationship and to great things occurring
in Jamaica in the future." Nathan also worked with USTDA and the
Ministry of Energy to send a three-person team from Jamaica on an
orientation visit to the USA to study waste-to-energy technology,
and secured additional funding for a definitional mission from USTDA
to bring a consultant to Kingston to help the Ministry develop its
Request-for-Proposal, which the GoJ released in January, 2009. The
proposal seeks bidders for two solid waste-to-energy projects on the
island, and U.S. firms are strong contenders.

In the key area of intellectual property rights (IPR),Nathan


single-handedly organized a training workshop for 50 key members of
the Jamaican judiciary, law enforcement, IPR office, customs, and
various private sector entities. Participants included the Chief
Justice, Commissioner of Customs, and Commissioner of Police. This
was the first time such a comprehensive workshop on IPR enforcement
had been held in the country's history. Innovatively, Nathan
brought in three-time Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt and five
famous reggae singers to press home the importance of IPR to an
appreciative audience.

With dogged perseverance, Nathan resolved all remaining outstanding
issues to enable the successful conclusion of the Open Skies
Aviation Agreement, which had been in negotiations since 2002. He
personally drafted the speech for the Ambassador who signed the
treaty on October 30, 2008, thus fulfilling a key U.S. policy goal.

Nathan worked diligently to successfully recover $3.5 million in
arrears owed to the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol by the national
carrier Air Jamaica. Currently, he is adroitly employing his
talents to recover another $1.5 million in arrears that the airline
owes the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service program. In assisting the U.S. business
community to support investment and facilitate resolution of
commercial disputes, Nathan has achieved noteworthy successes. When
a USA-based firm with a major contract for a water project with
Jamaica's National Housing Trust (NHT) was unable to secure payment,
Nathan's personal intervention with NHT representatives resulted in
the company's receipt of payment in full. The firm wrote a letter
to the Embassy stating "This was our first experience with the
Embassy and to classify it as successful would be an understatement.
We look forward to a long and prosperous relationship with the
Jamaican government and we are much more confident knowing that you
are there to help."

Nathan's astute conceptual thinking led him to submit prescient
front-channel reporting warning of the imminent collapse of several
major pyramid investment schemes in Jamaica. He also alerted The
Jamaican Ministry of Finance to the dangers; in part as a result of
his efforts, the Government embarked on a carefully-orchestrated
media campaign to gradually lower public expectations so that, when
the insolvent entities were unable to return funds to investors, a
far more serious collapse of confidence in the entire financial
system was averted.

When Tropical Storm Gustav bore down on Jamaica, Nathan coordinated
swiftly and effectively with airport authorities and airlines to
assess the status of air travel in and out of the island. After the
passage of the storm, he immediately arranged to inspect devastated
areas of the country, and produced timely situation reports which
gave Washington highly accurate assessments of the severity of
damage to crops, roads, and infrastructure.

Through all of Jamaica's travails of the last year, Nathan's
polished, sophisticated reporting and analyses of everything from
macroeconomic and financial market developments to the vital tourism
and bauxite sectors have won accolades from the Washington
interagency community. Speaking recently to the Office of the
Inspector General, a senior end user described Kingston's economic
reporting as "terrific - insightful, regular, current, and
frequent." For its part, the Office of Policy Planning and
Coordination in the WHA Bureau recently wrote to the Director of
Caribbean Affairs: "I simply wanted to highlight the great econ
reporting coming out of Embassy Kingston (attached Kingston 245 -
CONFIDENTIAL). We've been following their updates over the last
year on the IMF program and now the deteriorating economic
situation. The reporting is very well written and informative, and
has provided us...ammunition to argue for increased foreign
assistance for Jamaica. Tell them to keep them coming!" Reftel
report, Will Financial Crisis Rock Jamaica?, provides a good example
of Nathan's consistently outstanding work.

Suggested Citation
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"For advancement of key U.S. international economic objectives,
superior reporting, and furtherance of policy goals while serving as
Economic Officer of the Embassy of the USA in Kingston, Jamaica, in
the areas of macroeconomics, the energy and aviation sectors, and
intellectual property rights."


(End Text of Nomination)
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HEG