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Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development, Donville Inniss, making a point to BCCI Past President , Andy Armstrong while current President, Lalu Vaswani and Senior Vice President, Tracey Shuffler listen on. (A. Miller/BGIS)

Government is aware of the challenges being confronted by the business community and stands ready to work collectively with the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) to address those issues head on.

Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development, Donville Inniss gave this assurance this morning while delivering brief remarks at the BCCI’s Meet the Minister Breakfast Forum at the Hilton Barbados.?? The meeting saw several members of the business community interact with the minister in a question and answer format.

He told attendees that it was his administration’s desire to work together and incorporate a "partnership and a team approach" to best address the problems faced by businesses in this country.??????

Before an audience that included members of the private sector, the Minister said that his main priority was to work on the expansion of job opportunities in Barbados; to bring to the fore greater opportunities for earning and saving foreign exchange and also the issue of innovation which was critical to this country in order to move the economy forward.

"I am very mindful of the economic challenges that continue to confront this society and you are certainly the ones who are at the forefront …As a government we have been working assiduously to contain the negative effect of the global recession which has been very long and deep and certainly very unprecedented in modern times and as a government we have made sure that we continue to protect the most vulnerable in our society whilst at the same time enhancing business wherever possible," he said.

Lamenting that the last five years have not been "easy" for the state as well as for the private sector, Mr. Inniss said that we had to move beyond that and look to the future.?? He said he was aware that some of the challenges included business facilitation which had to be addressed in a very direct manner as well as the issue of bringing clarity to government policies.??

theresa.blackman@barbados.gov.bb

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