Barbadian Businesses Urged To Support Government In Drive For International Success

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

18 April 2002

Speaking on Tuesday, Barbados' Director of International Business, Lynette Eastmond, said that although the government is willing to shoulder some of the responsibility for the development of the Caribbean jurisdiction into a regional hub, the business sector must actively participate too.

'In terms of what Barbados can do to develop international business, I think it is important for us to make sure that we put an environment in place where we can facilitate the development of international business generally,' she told the Barbados Advocate this week, referring to the government's role in the process.

However, she added that: 'I think it is really for the business community to determine where those niches lie. I don't think that Government can really dictate to a business person the niche that that person can go into, so the business community has to take on that responsibility.'

Although the Minister said that she felt it necessary to look at the development of international business in a very broad sense, both in terms of attracting international interests and investment to the jurisdiction, and developing Barbadian interests abroad, she stressed that on this occasion her concern was principally for the development of the non-tourism sector for international purposes.

This, according to Ms Eastmond, encompasses not only the country's financial centre, but all other industries in which Barbados could gain a competitive advantage. She cited the entertainment industry and the education and health sectors as examples.

Finally, the International Business Director revealed to the newspaper her concerns that the region's media had not been as engaged as it could have been in the protection of Barbados' interests during negotiations with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

'This came home to me most forcefully when we were dealing with the OECD issue, where nearly every day you had segments of the international media writing very critical articles about those countries involved in financial services,' she commented. 'So it is important for all of our institutions including the media and the academics to be fully involved in any issue that Barbados is involved with, in order to advance the case of Barbados.'

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