Business Monday: Barfod reflects on time as EU Ambassador

EUROPEAN Union (EU) Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Mikael Barfod, has come to the end of his tour of duty. At a reception he hosted at his residence, Barfod outlined both successes and disappointments since coming to Barbados four years ago.

He highlighted to his audience, that included some Government Ministers,  members of the Diplomatic Corp and private sector representatives, among others, the EU’s development assistance programme since 2014. But as he leaves Barbados this week, Barfod is disappointed at the slow pace which the region is making with its integration project, and the implementation of the EU CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement.

Dealing with the development assistance, he said that more than one billion euros between 2014 and 2018 are making a difference in many quarters to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean islands.

Zeroing in at the EU’s budget support here in Barbados, the Ambassador recalled that when Barbados was suffering with the severe economic crisis in 2014/ 2015, there was only one single donor left to offer budget support, to get the country’s economy out of a tight fiscal and external balance situation.

Saying it was the EU which came to Barbados’ rescue, Barfod explained that the money allocated to this country was spent on a human resources development programme, that was aimed at creating vocational jobs demanded by industries.
“In almost every sector in Barbados and Eastern Caribbean, millions of euros were spent on infrastructure, agriculture, health, renewable energy, and economic reforms,” he said.

“At the regional level, we specialised in trade facilitation, including export development, disaster reduction, climate change and security,” he said, while recalling that the EU has been all over the place.

Barfod remarked that while the EU is not a household name in Barbados and in the Caribbean, they are getting there, and, “I believe that we are on the map now.”

Turning to regional integration and the EPA, the EU official said that it cannot be a surprise to know that the EU is very keen on regional integration and co-operation, at the level of CARICOM, CARIFORUM and the OECS.

He maintained that while there are treaties in place,  progress to reach the goal of the free movement of goods, services and people could be implemented much faster.

The Ambassador said that perhaps there needs to be a stronger political will as the driver to deal with the Caribbean EU Economic Partnership Agreement.

“We have tried in the EU to boost the agreement with numerous trade facilitation projects. However, much more could be done, not least by the private sector to take full advantage of the agreement,” he said.

He stressed that the private sector has to take hold of the EPA  agreement to promote trade in the region, and in other parts of the world.

Barfod was also unhappy about the fact that reports had indicated that the EU was blacklisting the Caribbean as a tax haven. According to him, “I believed that misunderstandings on both sides have been sorted out, and that we have a much better dialogue than before.”

The EU official also lamented the absence of political discussions between the EU and the Caribbean, over the decision by the Dominican Republic’s expulsion of a number of Haitians from that country.
He added that the EU has been part of the solution to the issues.

His replacement will be Daniela Tramapere.