Senator Adams: Choose to respond positively

ONE government senator believes Barbados can still profit from the international business sector regardless of the stipulations being imposed by the European Union and other international organisations.

In his presentation to the debate on the Companies (Economic Substance) (Amendment) Bill 2021, in the Upper House on Friday, Senator Rawdon Adams said the island must be nimble in navigating the various obstacles being thrown in its path in order to find success.

“We’re only victims here and trodden upon, if we choose to be. We can choose how we respond to this. We can gripe and we can groan, but we have to choose to respond positively, look at what they’ve said and sent back to us and triangulate our way through it successfully as we’ve done before. We can do it again,” he emphasised.

Saying Barbados and other small island developing states are now caught up in the battle for economic supremacy between the larger countries, he stated Government had to do what was necessary to carve out the best deal for this island in difficult circumstances.

“They continue to make the rules, we have to abide by them, but we can find the niche that they probably inadvertently are trying to deny us,” Adams added.

Pointing to the last blacklisting of the island, due to the word ‘partnership’ being left off of the relevant legislation, he noted this led to the disproportionate response, which heavily impacted the country, and stressed that international organisations must truly consider how their actions affect small countries.

“Being on a blacklist is akin to a financial death sentence. That means correspondent banks don’t want to deal with you. Correspondent banks are the ones you have to go through for all sorts of international trade transactions, including the importation of medical supplies and equipment. That is a threat that these organisations hand down when they indiscriminately act and fire before working out exactly what the context is,” he lamented.