Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley presents a gift to General Manager, Country Department Caribbean Group and Country Representative in Jamaica, Tariq Alli, while the IDB’s country Representative, Viviana Alva Hart, and Senior Minster in the Prime Minister’s Office, Dr. William Duguid, look on. (T. Barker/BGIS)
Barbados and officials from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) recently held wide-ranging talks on various projects, currently being funded and other investment opportunities, to be pursued with the development finance agency.
During the meeting in the Committee Room at Parliament with Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley and General Manager of the Caribbean and Country Representative for Jamaica, Tariq Alli, the officials spoke to the cordial relationship between the Bank and the Caribbean, with Ms. Mottley emphasising the need for the IDB and other institutions to guarantee a continuous flow of investments for major projects.
One of the ventures discussed was the Investment Mapping Tool designed to improve the transparency and efficiency of public investment. Ms. Mottley said Government was keen to see the demo and looked forward to its implementation across the public service.
The Prime Minister also spoke of the planned expansion of Berth 6 at the Bridgetown Port to be used as a logistics hub for cruise ship passengers since some cruise liners had indicated they would no longer be homeporting but instead transferring passengers.
She also mentioned the Grantley Adams International Airport’s proposed Public Private Partnership programme as another area in which Barbados could benefit from the IDB’s expertise.
Mr. Alli expressed an interest in assisting in this regard and intimated that a team from the IDB would visit the airport for preliminary discussions.
Regarding the project at the Bridgetown Port, the IDB Country Manager said the Bank was keen to support and indicated that they would examine the proposals.
The team also discussed plans for a major upgrade to the fishing harbour, the Barbados Guyana Food Terminal and upgrades to the Southern Meats Abattoir, among other topics.
