Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley is insisting that hosting the upcoming International Cricket Council’s T20 Men’s Cricket Finals at the redeveloped Kensington Oval and other events signals to the world that Barbados is open for business.
Ms. Mottley made the assertion on Friday, as she issued a rallying call to Barbadians to show off their national pride and feel the excitement of the cricket tournament as the country gets ready to welcome thousands of visitors to its shores.
She told reporters at Ilaro Court that Barbados was open for business and open to welcoming visitors. She declared that there was no better way to do so, than by participating in a sport for which the country has attained global excellence.
The Prime Minister reasoned that the cricket tournament offers Barbadians the opportunity to show the best that they can be and to sell goods and services so that the visitors can take back a memento to share with their friends, and to say ‘boy, you should have been there with me’.”
Ms. Mottley further stated that government was creating opportunities to generate economic activity by hosting multiple events. In this regard, the Prime Minister urged Barbadians not to “see them as isolated events” as she issued the charge to the private sector to increase their involvement.
She added: “And even though I have not, perhaps, yet seen enough participation and exploitation of this by elements in the private sector. The truth is that this is only the first event… After cricket finishes, what do you have? We have the 50th anniversary of Crop Over and whether we like it, Crop Over is now a hemispheric event that we have built up over the last 50 years. When this (T20 World Cup) is finished, we have other conferences….
“We go into ‘We Gatherin’. There is no greater celebration than the celebration of who we are parish by parish… All of this is a run-up for ‘We Gatherin 2025’, which, in fact, is happening in the year when the 400th anniversary of people first landed in Barbados in the modern era, after the indigenous Indians were no longer here…. We also have the hosting of CARIFESTA next year.”
The Prime Minister alluded to other major projects to revitialise Bridgetown and its environs and the Oistins Bay Gardens.