Opposition MPs laud BMEX

Speaking to the media yesterday morning after accompanying Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development, Donville Inniss; Leader of the Opposition, Mia Mottley; and fellow MP, Santia Bradshaw on a tour of the exhibition, Shadow Minister of Commerce, Industry and International Business, Kerrie Symmonds, described the event as both “exciting and highly promising”.

 

“The creativity of the local entrepreneurs is boundless and I think we all go away very, very pleased about the hard work that is being done, and the good quality of product that is being demonstrated,” he said.

 

On that note, Symmonds used the opportunity to point out the need for smaller manufacturers to be given assistance to help them better penetrate the market and to distribute their products.

 

“Product distribution obviously is an important part of their work and obviously it requires a bit more of a capital intensive effort; and I suspect that that is perhaps where the Minister and others at that level would be better able to influence a positive outcome. But I must tell you I go away very, very pleased and encouraged by the wonderful effort that is being made by local manufacturers,” he said.

 

Meanwhile, Bradshaw, commending the Barbados Manufacturers’ Association on a job well done for this year’s BMEX, suggested that the Ministry may need to put additional resources in place to help manufacturers export their products. While lauding the efforts to conduct various trade missions including Cuba, she said it is important that the stakeholders in the sector have the financial support they need to tap into those markets and she is hopeful that Government will assist in that regard. Her comments came as she also noted the ingenuity of many of the products on display.

 

“There have been some lovely things displayed. I have seen even some tourism products being displayed here which are not the traditional products that you would see … and it marks a turn in the marketplace, because it certainly excites me as a consumer and I am sure it certainly would excite a lot of the passengers who are coming through Barbados as well to purchase the material,” the Shadow Minister of Tourism and International Transport suggested. (JRT)