Prime Minister, The Rt. Hon. Owen Arthur

Barbados will be well represented this coming weekend in Britain at events to commemorate the ‘Bicentennial of the Abolition of the British Slave Trade’.

Prime Minister Owen Arthur will hold centre-stage on Sunday, March 25, when he delivers this year’s Wilberforce Lecture at Hull University.

The Prime Minister’s address, which is expected to be carried live on BBC television and recorded for CBC-TV, forms part of an official programme of activities being put on in the U.K. to salute the landmark occasion. Included is the official re-opening of the Wilberforce House Museum in Hull, prior to the anniversary lecture. Mr. Arthur will speak at this event, which also takes place on Sunday.

The acclaimed Wilberforce Lecture, which is an annual event, is named after the famed English abolitionist and law maker, William Wilberforce, whose tireless campaign to bring an end to the slave trade came to fruition on March 25, 1807, when the anti-slavery Bill became law in Britain. William Wilberforce was the Member of Parliament for Hull in East Yorkshire.

The Prime Minister’s packed itinerary during his brief visit to Britain will see him calling on the Lord Mayor of Hull and getting a briefing by Ministry of Health officials on local public health issues and the contribution of Barbadian and Caribbean health professionals, particularly nurses, to the British health sector. He will also visit a primary health care centre and hold informal discussions with officials of the Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Arthur will use the occasion of his visit to Britain to witness the launch of the Sagicor Financial Corporation on the London Stock Exchange and attend a special National Commemoration Service at Westminster Abbey.

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