Government is developing a modern industrial policy that is expected to benefit local manufacturers and help them to grow as well as compete in international markets.
This disclosure came recently from Minister of Industry, Innovation, Science and Technology, Marsha Caddle, as she addressed the Barbados Manufacturers’ Association’s (BMA) 60th anniversary Mix & Mingle event at Hayman’s Market, Hayman’s, St. Peter.
Ms. Caddle said the new policy would not be a macro-level policy document with a general wish list of objectives, but would instead help to create an environment, including through a transparent fiscal incentives framework and other measures, that would signal to young people and entrepreneurs that there was support for local companies to grow domestically, regionally and globally.
“I do think that we have to, very crisply and very succinctly, be able to signal what are some of the opportunities we think exist from our vantage point and what are some of the things we think are obvious comparative advantages for us in 2024, and for the next 30 or 50 years. That has to be supported of course by the enabling environment,” she stated.
The MIST Minister said Government created entities such as Business Barbados, Export Barbados and Invest Barbados, which in collaboration with the BMA, had to once and for all settle the environmental and enabling factors that would remove the unpredictability of setting up and operating businesses, locally.
“We are at the point in Barbados where we need to have frank and adult conversations about what needs to be fixed. And that’s one of the reasons that Business Barbados was set up, to be able to look squarely at issues associated with corporate registry, with intellectual property, with all related issues and to be able to say, ‘this is the system; this is the simplified way in which we will make it easier to do business,’” Ms. Caddle emphasised.
She shared that Cabinet would be reviewing Barbados’ trade policy. “We think that this is critical because we realise that our trade agreements and our overarching trade policy… the geopolitics that obtained at the time [it was created] have shifted and continue to shift.
“And so, given the frequent changes in the trade landscape, the dynamic nature of global economic conditions, technological advances, geopolitical shifts, even environmental challenges, we believe that we have to engage in this review of our trade policies. This is something that we expect to be able to do quickly,” the Minister explained.
Noting that the Ministry expects to engage all partners, she stated: “We have a strong partnership and a good solid track record of working with the BMA to be able to tease out and to really unpack what are the challenges and how do we move from those minute things that we experience on the ground to having those informed trade policies?”
Ms. Caddle also stressed that the BMA was one of Government’s practical partners in its mission to develop Barbados for the benefit of all.