On October 26th, 2022, Senior Minister Kerrie Symmonds took up the portfolio of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. During the last week, Minister Symmonds, has been introducing himself to resident members of the diplomatic corps via a series of courtesy calls.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kerrie Symmonds, in discussion with Brazil’s Ambassador to Barbados, Vera Lúcia dos Santos Caminha Campetti. The dialogue focused on enhancing South-South relations and increasing cooperation in the areas of agribusiness; tourism; air services agreement, cultural exchanges and building capacity for language training in Portuguese for Barbadians.
In Minister Symmonds’ courtesy call with Japan’s Ambassador to Barbados, Kayoko Fukushima, the two discussed climate change; disaster reduction aid; assistance with Barbados’ sargassum seaweed issue; educational and cultural exchanges; renewable energy; electric vehicles and Japan’s Exchange and Teaching Programme (JET).
The areas of food security; Spanish language training; cultural exchanges especially in food and beverage; air services agreement and showcasing local artists were the focus of a courtesy call with Argentina’s Ambassador to Barbados, Ciro Luciano Ciliberto Infante.
During the courtesy call with Guyana’s Consul General to Barbados, Geneva Ross-Tyndall, Minister Symmonds pointed out that the two countries shared a good longstanding relationship and expressed that Barbados was eager to deepen linkages with Guyana.
The two officials also discussed Guyana’s participation at Agrofest, earlier this year, and the prospect of some of those business persons returning.