by TRACY MOORE

THE TIES THAT BIND Barbados and China could tighten now that the two governments are looking to work together on a number of projects including the completion of the Sherbourne Conference Centre.

Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy revealed yesterday in an interview that "the Chinese Government has offered some assistance to the Government of Barbados, and a number of projects have been earmarked, including the question of Sherbourne Conference Centre".

He made it clear that it was all in the discussion phase but that "wherever the help comes from, the Government is committed to completing the Sherbourne Conference Centre".

"It hasn't actually reached the executing ministry. It is still a matter right now between the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to finalise that end and then we can go on from there.

"So before we can get into the particulars, we have to establish precisely what the scope of works and nature of the work are because the feeling is that the final use of Sherbourne will be a little different to what maybe the initial thinking may have been.

"A lot has changed since 1993 and we are in discussion with stakeholders and the architects and so on, and looking at Government's overall mandate and trying to determine exactly what direction we are going to go in," he explained.

Strategic plan

Sealy noted that the Barbados Conference Services Limited (BCSL) Board had also been working with the ministry to come up with a strategic plan for possible uses of Sherbourne Conference Centre.

Late last month, during a House of Assembly session, Minister of Housing and Lands Michael Lashley announced the plan to rename the centre the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Conference and Cultural Centre when he tabled a resolution on the centre.

Sir Lloyd started construction of the multipurpose facility against the backdrop of heavy criticism from the political opposition and in the 14 years since he was voted out of office the centre has remained unfinished.

The centre was opened in 1994, in time to host the United Nations Global Conference on Sustainable Development For Small Island Developing States. It has since played host to several other local conferences and international gatherings.

Sir Lloyd was recently named by Government as Barbados' first resident ambassador in China.

tracymoore@nationnews.com