INTERACTIVE SESSION: Prime Minister the Right Honourable Freundel Stuart (second from left) listens as Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development, Donville Inniss, answers a question from the audience during an interactive session between some members of Cabinet while Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Maxine McClean (left); and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Stephen Lashley, look on during the afternoon session of the Barbados Network Consultation (BNC) 2016, the 4th Biennial Diaspora Conference at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre yesterday.
PRESSING AHEAD
Thu, 08/04/2016 - 12:00am
Efforts on to sustain B’dos
Prime Minister the Right Honourable Freundel Stuart is giving all Barbadians the assurance that his Government is working to not only “keep the ship of state steady”, but on a growth path despite the current volatile global economic environment.
Moreover, he has told Barbadians resident here and abroad that the challenges presented by the recession are being “courageously and creatively navigated” by his Government. His comments came yesterday morning during the opening ceremony of the Barbados Network Consultation (BNC) 2016, the 4th Biennial Diaspora Conference at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
“Our faith in the future and in the promise of Barbados as a nation, continues to flourish with undiminished vigour,” he said.
However, repeating his constant mantra that Barbados is not just an economy, but a society, a perspective which he explained continues to inform his Government’s policy development focus, Prime Minister Stuart said the government he leads also remains committed to making the highest standard of health and education available in Barbados. In fact, he said, it is their primary focus.
“Our social development programmes are still the most reliable avenues through which we seek to respond to the needs of the vulnerable and the challenged. In this regard, you will be pleased to know that we held just a few days ago a comprehensive National Consultation on the Society, which will be enriched by two further consultations before its report to the Cabinet is finalised,” he said.
In that vein, he urged participants of the BNC that as they engage in the three-day conference, to also take time for deep reflection. He made the call as he pointed out that there is a need for the citizens to collectively decide what kind of country they want to build beyond the celebration of the upcoming Golden Jubilee. With that in mind, the Prime Minister again put the challenge to the nation and the Diaspora, to pinpoint the things, habits and values that we have lost as a nation which we need to reclaim; those which have not been lost which need to be retained; and those which have been acquired that need to be discarded.
The Prime Minister’s comments came as he noted that as the baton is passed to the next generation of young Barbadians, the current generation must be responsible in their actions, committed to their goals and loyal to their country. (JRT)