Senator, the Honourable Darcy, W Boyce - Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, Barbados.
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Bridgetown, BARBADOS - Public and private sector
entities across the region have been urged to improve business processes
to best standards, in an effort to generate economic growth and
employment.
According to Darcy Boyce, Minister in the Office of
the Prime Minister of Barbados, the region cannot afford to wait on
projects to be developed and executed only at the regional level in an
effort to build economic resilience.
Boyce who delivered the
keynote address at the opening of the Caribbean Exporters’ Colloquium
2014, on Tuesday, said the region must fine-tune the focus between
growth and balance .
“Each of the sectors we develop and/or
maintain contributes differently to economic growth, net foreign
exchange position, employment and fiscal revenues,” he told the
delegates at the second colloquium organized by Caribbean Export.
In
making reference to the CARICOM (Caribbean Community) Commission on
Economy, that was established in 2013 as a response to the persistent
economic difficulties in the region, he said the Commission has
recognised macroeconomic stability is not sufficient to be a catalyst
for growth in Caricom states.
“Our view is that we cannot wait
for projects to be developed and executed only at the regional level,
requiring consensus and thus moving at the pace of the slowest……we
cannot postpone the effort to general economic growth and employment and
thus to build economic resilience”
He said in order to achieve
the resilience needed there must be “a genuine, open and deep dialogue
and relationship between the public, business and trade union sectors”.
Boyce
added that the CARICOM Commission on the Economy anticipates receiving a
proposal at the end of the colloquium that will be included in a report
to CARICOM Heads of Government in February.
The two-day
Caribbean Exporters’ Colloquium is being hosted by the Caribbean Export
Development Agency and is funded by the European Union under the 10th
European Development Fund (EDF).
