Inter-American Economic Council Sees Bright Future For Barbados

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

23 January 2003

Speaking to the Barbados Daily Nation last week, President and CEO of the Inter-American Economic Council, Barry Featherman suggested that, despite the economic woes experienced by the jurisdiction last year, the future is bright for Barbados' economy in 2003.

The Inter-American Economic Council is a non-profit organisation established in Washinton three years ago in order to assess the economic progress of Western Hemisphere companies, and has been seeking to promote stronger links between the public and private sector throughout the Caribbean region.

However, Barbados, according to Mr Featherman, is ahead of the game:

'I see a very bright future on the horizon for Barbados actually,' he told the Daily Nation. 'The government led by Prime Minister, Owen Arthur has been very forward thinking in terms of trying to bring together representatives of government, business and civil society in terms of the decision-making processes.'

He added: 'The country has a very pro-active business community. It has some companies that have successfully diversified economically. Some of the companies within Barbados have actually started subsidiaries in the Caribbean and Central America, in South America and the United States. That's a prime example of the type of economic diversification that we are trying to promote as an organisation.'

According to the Economic Council chief, Barbados' initiatives to attract more high-tech and information technology investment should also pay off in the long term.

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