BY JULIE CARRINGTON | OCT 17, 2022
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley and Vice President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Ricardo Mourinho-Félix, exchange pleasantries after talks on investment matters. (B. Hinds/BGIS)
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, and Vice President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Ricardo Mourinho-Félix, recently held talks on a number of areas relevant to Barbados’ development agenda.
During the discussions, held in the Committee Room at Parliament, the Prime Minister expressed thanks to Mr. Mourinho- Félix on behalf of the government and people of Barbados for providing financing, part of which was used for the refurbishment of the Harrison Point Isolation Facility during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The two officials also discussed the need for a modern fishing harbour with Ms. Mottley pointing out that the current facility, built through financing from the EIB had reached its full capacity.
The Prime Minister contended that given the island’s vulnerabilities to tropical disturbances during the hurricane season, an expanded Bridgetown Fishing Harbour was needed to protect the fishing industry.
“The expansion of that fishing harbour is more for functional production and development of the fishing industry but it is equally for the maintenance of the maritime assets from rough seas. We have to ensure that post-storm, post-hurricane, that we do not lose all of our maritime assets and affect the entire fishing industry,” Ms. Mottley stressed.
Meanwhile, Vice President Mourinho- Félix said the Bank was “more than happy” to assist Barbados during the COVID-19 pandemic and expressed the desire to provide financial support for the country’s small and medium-sized enterprises projects.
“We are more than happy to do more and we are putting two programmes in place for the Caribbean region. One related to clean water sanitation and clean oceans and the other is for expanding small and medium enterprises,” The Vice President underlined.
The two officials also discussed the proposed fast and regular ferry service, ways to make intra-regional travel cheaper and easier for Caribbean citizens among other topics.
