MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND FOREIGN
TRADE
Breaking the Mould Senator Dr. the Hon. Jerome Walcott, J.P, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, outlined new approaches on 13 March, 2021
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t is with great pleasure that I make this presentation to you today on some of the work and plans of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. There is nothing esoteric about the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. Our work is directly determined and informed by Barbados’ national priorities and domestic interests. Indeed, the work of the Ministry underpins and supports all that we are and all that we do in Barbados. Hence, with the onset of the Covid 19 Pandemic and over the past year, my Ministry has had to respond to myriad matters including those related to the crisis in global supply chains, as it related to obtaining PPE, ventilators, ICU beds, naso-pharyngeal swabs, PCR and RT kits, as well as engaging with the Cuban Government to secure the assistance of doctors and nurses from the Cuban Medical Brigade and, more recently, being involved in reaching out to various countries and several entities in an effort to procure Covid 19 vaccines for our people. Here, I must highlight the importance of our regional partners and graciously thank The Commonwealth of Dominica and the Cayman Islands for assisting us with swabs in the early months of the pandemic. Later, Dominica and Grenada helped us with rapid test kits and. more recently. Guyana assisted us with PCR kits and subse-
quently the much needed binding solution. Covid 19 showed us the importance of regionalism. In our mission, to promote and secure, in the international community, Barbados’ political, social and economic interests, you would appreciate that an immediate priority for this Ministry is now to support the economic recovery and transformation of Barbados in a post-COVID environment. Mindful of this, the Ministry’s contribution to the achievement of Barbados’ goals of enhanced economic growth and revenue generation will be delivered in the coming Financial Year through a series of diversified external engagements in the following areas: 1) Strengthening traditional bilateral relations and pursuing new nontraditional partnerships;
2) Reaffirming multilateralism and deepening engagement with likeminded alliances; 3) Increasing Barbados’ trade levels by enhancing commercial diplomacy; 4) Ramping up our outreach to the Barbados diaspora and Friends of Barbados community. Strengthening traditional bilateral relations and pursuing new nontraditional partnerships The Ministry and its overseas Missions will continue to focus on the deepening and strengthening of existing relationships with traditional partners in the Caribbean, Latin America, North America and Europe, as well as the development of relationships with new, non-traditional partners in Africa,
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