We have to travel, says Minister

MINISTER in the Ministry of Commerce Sandra Husbands had a few words for those persons who continue to criticise the frequent flying of Government Ministers.

Speaking in the Lower Chamber on the Economic Partnership Agreement Bill 2019, Husbands told her colleagues: “We have to shut our ears to the noises of people talking about ‘wunna travelling here, wunna travelling there’.” We have to travel. How are we going to engage the world if we stay at home?

“They are not coming to us, we have to go to them. How are we going to benefit from this deeper if we don’t get out there and go and find a business? I can understand the general population not understanding, but the people who should know better they need to keep their mouth shut…”

She told her colleagues that while they are tired and have been working hard, they will have to work even harder in 2020.

“We have to meet, we gather at work because we have to find our Diaspora so that we can collect our assets, see what we have in terms of talent across the world and how we are going to engage them in economic activity.

“Every time that we find a niche in which to function, somebody comes to drive us out of the corner. Dynamics change. So it has these small countries running from pillar to post. But I have news for the world – Barbados is coming. We are coming with a plan. We are going to develop a strategy and implement it that will cement this country on the world history page. We are going to write our names on that page. People are going to see what a small nation can do. And I am privileged to be a part of it,” Minister Husbands exhorted.

The Member of Parliament of St. James South also became emotional during her presentation, saying what has happened over the last 11 years has been a “travesty”, one which has “been unfair to an entire generation.

“I hear them and my constituents, the young people...young people telling me, ‘Ms Husbands, I have a degree but I can’t get a job’. ‘Ms Husbands, I was working and I lost my job’. ‘I am struggling now with my mortgage’. This has not been fair to them.”

Stressing that it is government’s plan to put Barbadians on a path of prosperity, Minister Husbands also made the point that the decision to pay fees for University students was not an election gimmick.

“Barbados has to continue to produce high-quality, high skilled people, that we can populate our services industries and our production industries and be able to use them to be able to export them across the world.

“That is why UWI must always be there, that is why the SJPI must be transformed. Sir, there is work to be done and my colleagues…have work to do to help to make our trade strategy work.

“We have to source the best talent, we have to deploy the best talent, we have to take our limited resources and put them in the key things that will grow the economy, that will generate more money for us, that we can then take that money and do our social services we can take that money and look after our welfare,” she said. (JH)
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