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| Senator Darcy Boyce,??Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office in conversation with??Chief Executive Officer of Invest Barbados, Wayne Kirton at the Chartered Accountants of Barbados seminar at Hilton Barbados today. (A.Miller/BGIS) |
Although the ongoing economic recession has resulted in some international companies pulling out of Barbados, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Senator Darcy Boyce, has challenged those that remain, to become more competitive.
He sounded this warning last Friday, during the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados’ seminar entitled: International Business Update – 2012, at Hilton Barbados.
The Minister revealed that while some company had pulled out, he was heartened that the island – as an attractive international business domicile – had been able to maintain the majority of the registered international business companies.
"There is often noise from time-to-time about loss of companies but, by-and-large, we have been able to maintain the bulk of our companies [in Barbados] and we have been able to increase the number of companies registered.??
"This has resulted from the collaborative efforts of both the public and the private sectors and I want to thank you for working with us [government] in making Barbados the destination of choice for several international investors. While we have held our own, despite increased competition, we must continue to look for ways to improve our performance," Senator Boyce underlined.
The Minister, who also has responsibility for Energy and Invest Barbados, urged the sector to embrace the lessons learnt and to apply them to making their operations more efficient.