Export opportunities being pursued

The Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC) will soon be making its way to the Northern Caribbean to see what opportunities exists there for Barbadian goods and services.

 

That’s the word from Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development, Donville Inniss, who, in a recent interview with The Barbados Advocate revealed that he only recently approved the exploratory visits. According to Inniss, their focus will in particular be on the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica.

 

His comments came as he indicated that the BIDC has been exploring a number of markets in the region and conducting trade missions, with the view of not only capitalising on and expanding into markets where Barbadian goods and services already have a foothold, but also pursuing new markets, especially those that are considered non-traditional for Barbadian companies. Minister Inniss said that his hope is to see more Barbadian companies exporting their products, and to see providers of goods and services in general, embracing a culture of export.

 

“BIDC will continue to explore markets in the region because they have been given a mandate to increase exports year on year going forward. So this month’s mission to Panama as well as those undertaken to St. Lucia, Guyana and Cuba in recent times, were all intended to help in that regard, and soon they will be undertaking exploratory visits up North. We are not leaving any stone unturned for we have a market here in the Caribbean region that we must do our best to pursue in order to promote what we produce,” he said.

 

He made the point while noting that the BIDC has also been over time working with local manufacturers to ensure that they are export ready. The Industry and Commerce Minister said that focus has been placed on ensuring that those companies not only have the ability to supply the products on a consistent basis, but that there is also consistency in terms of the quality of what they manufacture. Inniss said that they have also looked at the matter of labelling, to ensure that it is done correctly on products that are to be sent overseas. (JRT)