Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kerrie Symmonds (second from right) chatting with (from left to right) Barbados’ High Commissioner to the UK, Milton Inniss; Founder and Coordinator of the Renfrewshire Business Network, Jo Smith; and British High Commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Scott Furssedonn-Wood, at the Hilton Barbados Resort, this morning . (T. Barker/BGIS)
A trade mission from Scotland with 26 delegates is here on the island to explore trade and investment possibilities with Barbados.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kerrie Symmonds, in his remarks to the delegation at the Hilton Barbados Resort, this morning, highlighted some of the incentives of establishing business partnerships in the country.
Minister Symmonds, in sharing some of these, said: “Barbados is the most competitive jurisdiction in terms of tax rates to be found in the western hemisphere; for those of you who want to, as they say in international trade law, pursue the simple movement of natural persons and want to reposition yourself so that you are here either as an entrepreneur or you’re here physically as part of a corporation, which is doing business globally, but you want to be located here personally, there is an excellent facility which is called the Welcome Stamp….
“You can conduct your business via some of the best ICT infrastructures to be found anywhere in the hemisphere… [and] as part of the investment proposition, you will undoubtedly also be interested in the fact that you’re being invited to be part of a linkage with a preeminent financial services destination.”
In addition, regarding the prospects of doing business with Barbados, the Foreign Trade Minister stressed that the island had built its trade and investment portfolio based upon its reputation of transparency, substance and “very strong” regulatory frameworks, as well as on compliance with international best practices.
Minister Symmonds noted that Barbados was keen on pursuing future social and economic development with Scotland in key areas such as educational training, the genetic technology industry, renewable energy and digital services.
The Minister expressed the hope that the week-long trade mission would have fruitful discussions where Barbados and Scotland could “drill down” on ways to connect in a very tangible way; where both parties could continue to share common values, common developmental objectives and purpose; and build really tangible and meaningful commercial partnerships.
He stated: “In that regard, I want to urge you to use the opportunity to start now to take root in Barbados and begin to make large plans about the transformation of your business so that it will include, in part, the lovely island called Barbados.”
Also expressing hope for a positive outcome from the trade mission was Barbados’ High Commissioner to the UK, Milton Inniss; British High Commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Scott Furssedonn-Wood; Renfrewshire Business Network, Jo Smith and Chairman, Business Friends of Barbados, Ian Gittens.
High Commissioner Furssedonn-Wood noted that it was the aim of the Commission to support UK firms to do business in Barbados and the Caribbean; and some of the participants have businesses in the fields of clean energy, food and beverage, and Fintech.
It was noted that the trade mission is part of the developmental dialogue between Barbados and the United Kingdom to foster cooperative relationships and open new panaceas of opportunity.
The trade mission was organised in collaboration with Invest Barbados, the British High Commission in Barbados and Renfrewshire Business Network. It is the third such mission between Barbados and Scotland. The first took place in 2019.
