Senator Darcy Boyce has called for a renewed effort in the growth and marketing of West Indian Sea-Island Cotton.
He was speaking yesterday on behalf of Prime Minister Freundel Stuart at the launch of the 10th European Development Fund for the Regional Private Sector Development Programme (RPSDP) at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
Under this programme the Caribbean Export Development Agency will receive 32 million euros to help develop the private sector in CARIFORUM countries.
The Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Energy, Immigration, Telecommunications and Investment noted that “we are the only region that has the Sea-Island Cotton but we seem to be the only region that wishes to let an asset like that languish”.
“When I think of Caribbean Export I think of the success story it has had with the marketing of West Indian rums both in the EU and around the rest of the world,” Boyce said, noting that he also thought about “what might possibly happen if we could get the same sort of effort in marketing West Indian high fashion garments made of Sea-Island Cotton”.
He said the time had come to focus some energy and thought on how we can use the talents of local and European designers to develop, produce and sell high value high quality Sea-Island Cotton garments throughout the world.
The senator said the RPSDP came at a “very opportune” moment when the world economy was once again beginning to show some signs of growth and regional economies were beginning to see “a little light after coming through the last three years of substantial stress”.
“At this time therefore it is very important for us all to move quickly to seize what opportunities may arise in the rest of the world in order to once again push our exports,” he said.
