COMMERCE MINISTER Donville Inniss has pledged to forge stronger ties with the new executive council of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI).
He made this promise recently when BCCI president, Eddy Abed; senior vice president, Ed Clarke; vice president of finance, Betty Brathwaite and executive director, Lisa Gale paid him a courtesy call at his Baobab Tower office.
Stating that he planned to engage more with the Council in an effort to be constantly “kept abreast” of initiatives and various issues, Inniss said it was imperative that regular meetings be held.
Abed said while he welcomed the increased dialogue between the Minister and technocrats, he wanted the opportunity to focus on a number of topics of concern to the Chamber and this included business facilitation, productivity and tourism, with the latter sector causing him ‘alarm’ as he was not seeing the trickle-down effects to the other sectors.
Both parties conceded that more needed to be done in an effort to revitalise the City of Bridgetown, with the Chamber citing poor lighting, lack of parking and cleanliness as perennial issues.
They also pointed out that vending in the City, poor markets and a lack of a thorough –fare as topics to be addressed and focused on.
The President further suggested that the issue of duty free shopping for locals should be considered examined more closely. (BGIS)
