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Minister of Industry, Denis Kellman, on a tour earlier this year. (FP)

A call has gone out to the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC) to establish a free zone and a showroom for local products.

It came from Minister of Industry, Denis Kellman, during a tour of the BIDC industrial estates yesterday.

Minister Kellman said that although there were a number of pending decisions to be made by the BIDC, the development of a ???free zone’ would currently be its biggest undertaking.

"It has been long overdue and I can assure you that we in the Ministry are not just thinking about it, we are already working on it. If we are to develop tourism the way we want it, if we are to develop all of our industries, it is very important for Barbados to have a free zone. You do not have a location like this and ignore having a free zone," the Industry Minister stressed.

Speaking from Pierce Furniture and Furnishings Ltd. at Spring Garden Estates, Mr. Kellman also pointed out that the BIDC needed to have a showroom built to display products, such as those seen at that location.

"I do not believe that this furniture should be stuck in this storeroom. It should only be on display so that anyone could come in, view it and purchase it," the Minister stated.

Minister Kellman, along with Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Small Business and Rural Development, Ruth Blackman, officials from that Ministry and the BIDC, as well as the media, visited 11 estates across the island.

The delegation made stops at Crucible at Harbour Industrial Estate; Matrix Marketing and Furniture Alliance at Grazettes Estates; American University of Barbados School of Medicine at Wildey Estates; TTL Electronics at Grantley Adams Estates; and Crown Packaging (Barbados) Ltd. at Six Roads Industrial Park.

sharifa.medford@barbados.gov.bb

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