Barbados has an official presence at Expo 2010 in Shanghai, the international exhibition now under way in China. This country’s Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister, Senator Maxine McClean, left here over the weekend at the head of a seven-member delegation for Shanghai.
She was accompanied by the Minister of Tourism, Richard Sealy, and the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) Ralph Taylor and David Rice, respectively; as well as other sector officials.
The delegation, which is said to have a packed programme of official engagements, will be supporting the country’s participation at the Barbados Booth at the CARICOM Day Pavilion this coming Saturday, July 17, and will also be engaged in a number of promotional activities planned for this week and next week in Shanghai and Beijing.
It is expected that the Barbados Booth will be highlighting several features of local life, including aspects of culture, industry and tourism.
According to a senior government official, the Barbados mission would be seeking to foster and promote closer cooperation and ties between this country and China.
An earlier team, drawn from the BTA, Invest Barbados, the National Cultural Foundation and the private sector, preceded the official delegation and "has been flying the Barbados flag high at the Expo, and making our presence felt there."
He noted that, in China, "Barbados is being promoted as an excellent location for investment and an ideal place to do business. While there, we will be seeking to further create marketing initiatives for our tourism product, and for potential visitors to view Barbados as a preferred tourism destination." The official also revealed that a number of local products and services were being showcased at Expo 2010.??