TIES BETWEEN BARBADOS and Canadian province Prince Edward Island (PEI) are likely to become stronger following the renewal of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and the Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce.
Speaking during the MOU signing last Monday at the Accra Beach Resort, BCCI president Lalu Vaswani said the new agreement was welcome news for both his organization and the country as a whole.
He said Barbados now stood to benefit from Canada’s Global Commerce Strategy which was aimed at deepening that country’s trade and investment ties in certain priority markets.
The MOU was first signed in 2011 with the aim of developing trade and interaction between Barbados and PEI.
Delegations from both territories have made reciprocal visits.
Vaswani said the new MOU reflected both chambers’ commitment to developing private sector opportunities through collaboration and partnership.
The BCCI had indicated that the partnership had led to the forging of several relationships across both private and public sectors, the exchange of the chambers’ best practices and increased commerce and trade between the two jurisdictions.
Trade and investment officer with Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Jeff Burry, said his agency was proactive in terms of its international business development mandate and the Caribbean was one of the key areas it concentrated on over the past few years.
The reception was one of the activities which took place last week as part of a trade mission organized by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (PEI and Tourism), Innovation PEI and the High Commission of Canada to Barbados.
It consisted of 12 export-focused companies from PEI with expertise in the areas of information and communication technology, agrifood, professional services, building/construction materials and education.
Several members of the delegation were scheduled to conduct similar missions in St Lucia, Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba. (NB/PR)
