Barbados Looking To Attract Chinese Investors and Visitors

Barbados Looking To Attract Chinese Investors and Visitors
Author

Political Reporter

Release Date

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

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The Barbados government says it wants a speedy conclusion for an air services agreement with China as it hopes to lure visitors and investors from the Asian country.

A government statement providing details of a meeting between the island’s Ambassador - Designate to the People’s Republic of China, Dr. Chelston Brathwaite, quoted Prime Minister Stuart as saying that Barbados was in the development phase of its relationship with China and it was now necessary to familiarise the Chinese with this country in an effort to attract Chinese tourists and business people to these shores.

Stuart acknowledged that the local economy had become structurally integrated into the economies of the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, but insisted there was a need to look in new directions and identified China and Latin America as two of the new paths to be followed.

For his part, Brathwaite, who left here on Sunday to take up his appointment in Beijing, noted that tourism, trade and business were key areas of interest, noting that 83 million Chinese tourists travelled annually, spending an estimated US$102 billion.

The statement gave no indication when or if negotiations for an air services agreement between the two countries had started.

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