Tourism, climate change and enhanced relations were the main areas of discussion when Barbados’ Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Maxine McClean, and Barbados’ Ambassador to China, Sir Lloyd Erskine Sandiford, met with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, Yang Jiechi, yesterday during a courtesy call at the ministry in Beijing.Yang noted that the potential for developing tourism both ways was “far from being fully tapped” and stressed that there was a need to collaborate more in that area.
He acknowledged that geographical distance could be a hindrance, but hoped representatives in the industry in Barbados would work even harder to sell their product to his country. The minister also promised that his government would encourage more Chinese to visit Barbados. McClean agreed that the prospects with respect to tourism needed to be further explored and pointed out that Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy had already met with several industry officials while in Beijing. Noting that these meetings had been quite successful, she said they would continue over the next few days in Shanghai.She added that the double taxation agreement between Barbados and China also created an excellent mechanism for exploring investment opportunities, particularly in the tourism sector. (BGIS)
