Manager, Technical Services – Technical and Vocational Educational and Training (TVET) Council, Wendy McClean; President of the Manufacturers’ Association (BMA), Jason Sambrano; Executive Director, Bobbi McKay and the Chief Executive Officer of Barbados Investment & Development Corporation (BIDC), Sonja Trotman.
BMEX 2016 launched
EIGHT regional and international buyers will be among participants in the Barbados Investment & Development Corporation (BIDC) sponsored buyers programme, during this year’s Barbados Manufacturers’ Exhibition (BMEX).
BIDC’s Chief Executive Officer, Sonja Trotman, disclosed this, while adding that the buyers will be drawn from Cuba, Panama, Costa Rica and other countries. Cuba’s participation in this programme will come on the heels of the BIDC spearheaded mission there during the first week of May.
“One of the main roles of the BIDC is export promotion, and we have been doing research and trade missions [since] last year, and some we have started this year. So we will be looking to bring in eight buyers to the exhibition.
“The buyers’ programme will be focusing on our established markets of the UK, US and Canada. We will be seeking to bring in a representative from each one of those markets, in addition to some of the CARICOM islands. We will be bringing buyers from CARICOM, and we will be focusing also on the Spanish speaking countries that we have been targeting in recent months. We will be looking at Cuba, Panama and Costa Rica.”
Trotman further told the gathering that the aim “is to expose buyers to Barbados and what Barbados has to offer, may it be manufacturing products or services”.
She was speaking at yesterday’s launch of BMEX 2016, held in the Ginger Lily Room at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre. This year’s event will run from May 13th to 16th, under the theme “Celebrating Achievements, Independence & Ingenuity”.
Trotman shared that not only will BIDC be sponsoring a group of clients who will be participating in BMEX, but it will also have a booth. She pointed out, on this occasion, the BIDC’s booth will highlight the contributions made by that organisation over past 60 years.
“This year, it is our intention to display and to exhibit the benefits and what the BIDC would have done over the 60 years of its existence – the contribution it would have made to industrial development in Barbados. We look forward to engaging the public in terms business development, business development ideas, speaking to what the BIDC does and what the BIDC can do to assist companies in Barbados,” she said. (MG)