By Julie Carrington

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, (BGIS) — Minister of international business and industry, Ronald Toppin, is urging potential investors to consider Barbados as a safe domicile to expand their global footprint.

He made the overture while addressing the virtual African Diaspora Network Impact and Innovation Forum hosted in collaboration with Invest Barbados on Wednesday.

Minister Toppin told participants that Barbados was committed to strengthening its African Caribbean and Pacific links with African countries to forge stronger bilateral and multilateral ties.

Underscoring the importance of investment to the island's productive sectors and social and economic development, he added: 'To do so successfully, we proactively seek to land investment that is feasible and ecologically sound; investment that will create quality jobs and bring transferable skills and new technologies.'

The international business minister shared that his ministry and Invest Barbados had been working diligently to sell Barbados' 'finer points' to the globe.

'We have been promoting our productive sectors globally, while continuing to diversify Barbados' range of investment opportunities, which currently span areas such as insurance, wealth management, financial services, information and communication technology, renewable energy and niche manufacturing, to name a few.'

He continued: 'I am pleased to report that the majority of these sectors generally withstood the shocks from the pandemic and registered increased demand, particularly the insurance, information and communication technology and niche manufacturing sectors.'

Minister Toppin also gave updates of key sectors, such as renewable energy and agriculture. Regarding the former, the minister told participants that government had set a target of 2030 for the country to switch to alternative energy sources.

In agriculture, he said investment opportunities were 'ripe for the picking' in areas such as high tech food production, agro-processing, and farming geared towards local and regional food security.

He reminded the audience that Barbados was the first in the Caribbean to introduce the Welcome Stamp Programme, and said the initiative has been well subscribed.

Toppin gave the assurance that Barbados is open for business and is en route to a higher level of development. 'I invite you to join us on a transformative journey towards excellence, growth and prosperity,' he underlined.

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