AS MANY AS 200 BAJANS, some from such widely separated areas as California, Maryland, and Florida, are meeting in New York this week.

They are to attend the annual convention of the National Association of Barbados Organisations (NABO) in the United States, an umbrella body which brings together more than 20 national associations of Barbadians.

The convention, which begins tomorrow and ends on Sunday at the Crown Plaza Hotel near La Guardia Airport in Queens, will focus attention on the involvement of young people with Bajan roots in the work of various social services organisations in the diaspora.

With Rekindling Pride And Industry By Mentoring Our Youth serving as the convention's theme, Michael Cummings, NABO's president, said that the national body was working with its affiliated associations in many American states to find ways to attract more young people to the programmes and activities of the various Bajan groups.

Barbados Invest – a government promotion agency, the Consulate-General, the Barbados Tourism Authority and some 40 firms – most of them from Barbados – are mounting a business exposition designed to promote Barbadian products and services.

"The primary goal of the exposition is to expose the range of Barbadian goods and services that are export-ready for the international marketplace," said Pearlie Drakes, North American manager of Barbados Invest.

NABO is also presenting awards to six Barbadians in the United States and Barbados for their community work. They are Rupee, the prominent entertainer; Martin Greenidge, of California; Dr Hamilton Taitt, of Miami; the Reverend Dr Hawthorne Davis, of Baltimore; The Reverend Dr Lewellyn Armstrong, of Brooklyn; and Jonathon Graham, of Barbados.

Dame Billie Miller, Barbados' Foreign Minister and Minister of Foreign Trade, is to deliver the feature address and present the awards at the convention's banquet.