Export sector drive on way

An industrial development commission and a new industrial policy are two initiatives being pursued by Government to develop an export-oriented sector and assist Barbados on its road to recovery from the global economic crisis.
Announcing this at a gala dinner hosted by the Barbados Entrepreneurship Foundation at  Hilton Barbados on Wednesday night, Prime Minister Freundel Stuart said current global events that had resulted in  recession among Barbados’ trading partners had also “seriously undermined” Barbados’ productive sectors.
“The challenge now facing Barbados is to ensure that recessionary conditions do not last here indefinitely with consequential damage to our people and our businesses,” Stuart told high-profile local and international entrepreneurs who had earlier participated in the Barbados National Entrepreneurship Summit.
“We have to create conditions for the fostering of a culture of entrepreneurship,” the Prime Minister said.
He added Barbados had one of the most efficient infrastructures for growth and development in the region.
Stuart saw organised labour having an important role to play in this transition.
“Concessions have to be made to get the workforce to break out of the mindset of considering a job as a sinecure and workers in every sphere of operation have to be encouraged to become more productive,” the Prime Minister said.
He outlined several initiatives on which Government had embarked to stimulate the productive sector, referring to the National Information and Communication Technologies Strategic Plan of Barbados designed among other things to position the island as a competitive jurisdiction in the area of such technologies.
Stuart said the business sector had a pivotal role to play in developing the culture of entrepreneurship which Barbados’ recovery and future growth would depend on. (GC)