BY SHEENA FORDE-CRAIGG | SEP 1, 2022
Participants of the AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF) 2022, were treated to a welcome reception at the Barbados Museum and Historical Society. (S. Forde-Craigg/BGIS)
Under the theme One People. One Destiny. Uniting And Reimagining Our Future, the Government of Barbados and African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) are hosting the AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF) 2022, from September 1 to 3, at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
Senior Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Dr. The Most Honourable, Jerome Walcott, welcomed participants of the conference to Barbados, last evening, during a welcome reception, at the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, Dalkeith Road, St. Michael.
Minister Walcott noted that the three-day ACTIF forum is intended to help strengthen relations between CARICOM and the private sectors of the two regions to advance trade and investment.
He told those in attendance: “We have gathered here in Barbados by choice, and with the knowledge that the African and Caribbean peoples can never be divided, not even by the forces of history or the passage of time. We share history, culture, and a sense of common identity.”
In addition, the Senior Minister stressed that the forum was occurring at a critical time since the deepening of bilateral and multilateral relations across the two regions is pivotal to their “shared success against all natural and manmade challenges which confront the global community.”
Dr. Walcott highlighted that the Forum’s aim is not only to strengthen collaboration in the areas of trade and investment, but also in the tourism and culture sectors and with respect to facilitating technology transfer, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
Minister Walcott thanked the delegates for coming to Barbados and sharing in a historic and momentous occasion and expressed the hope that the Forum would “bind us closer together and be of benefit and enrichment to all.”
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fellow and the African Export-Import Bank, Ronald Sibongiseni Ntuli, in his remarks, highlighted the significance of the African delegate’s journey to the conference.
“I say that this is an important and strategic gathering because the last time that Africans journeyed in such numbers across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean was as unwilling immigrants. Today, on the other hand, we crossed these oceans as free and willing people seeking opportunities to promote trade and investment between each other different from them.
“Today, we as a people are the merchants, we are the industrialists [and] we are here to break the invisible trade barriers that have existed even beyond the slave trade and to build a commercial bridge as the building blocks for mutual opportunity,” Mr Ntuli stated.
He said the “groundbreaking” forum is providing a wonderful opportunity for persons in this region to gain valuable insight into the vast, fast-growing finance, commerce, arts and cultural activities, as well as opportunities to network with leading figures on the continent.
Persons attending the welcome reception had the opportunity to view exhibits at the museum including the African Exhibition and were entertained by local musicians and artistes including the Barbados National Youth Orchestra, Biggie Irie, Mahalia, Nikita, Edwin Yearwood and Rhesa Garnes.
