Minister of Energy and Business, Senator Lisa Cummins, has called on the business communities in Barbados and Rwanda to seize the possibilities afforded by the current mission here and “engage in meaningful business opportunities”.
Senator Cummins highlighted Barbados’ high penetration in solar photovoltaic systems, and suggested that there was an opportunity to work with Rwanda and other countries in the Global South to engage in renewable energy commercial diplomacy.
“What that means is that Barbados has an opportunity to work with you, in Rwanda, …to bring our expertise, our skills, and our philosophy around the utilisation of our natural resources…to generate energy, renewable energy in particular, to the African continent, starting with…Rwanda.
“I would love…to see businesses, some of you here in Barbados in this room, collaborate with Rwandan companies, coming out to this summit, to establish solar PV farms in Rwanda as a starting point for collaboration around energy. Those solar PV farms, I believe, have the opportunity to be framed around this business construct that I am talking about with you this morning,” she stated.
The Minister expressed this view today as she delivered remarks at the Business Mission from Rwanda to Barbados Forum, at the Hilton Barbados Resort, under the theme: Strengthening Cultural and Economic Ties.
Senator Cummins expressed the view that a new global construct was needed, and suggested that it was now time to begin to frame out the constructs for the existing and emerging growth sectors, where both countries have a competitive and a comparative advantage.
She noted that the Global South had been told it had to have sound policies, good governance, promote investment, have solid leadership, and transformational policies.
“And we’ve done all those things, and then what? We still have a Global North that makes changes, that makes their businesses and their economies stronger, oftentimes at the expense of the Global South,” she stated.
The Minister said in the past, countries were encouraged to develop double taxation agreements. “We developed those double taxations; now we’re in a ‘and then what’ moment because the global international financial architecture is again changing….
“So, we’re reverting to a discussion around the importance of developing bilateral investment treaties, because we expect that with the introduction of the global convergence tax rates, it will have implications for our double taxation regime. We are in a perpetual ‘and then what’ development trajectory as the Global South,” she opined.
The August 2 to 8 Business Mission from Rwanda is led by the Rwanda Development Board, and aimed at fostering collaboration and promoting business, tourism, and cultural opportunities between Barbados and Rwanda.