Barbados Today

Matters ranging from Caribbean nationals teaching abroad in refugee camps to cultural exchanges between small island states and African nations were among the areas discussed when Permanent Representative of the Republic of Djibouti to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation Rachad Farah, paid a courtesy call on Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Maxine McClean.

During the call at the Ministry on Culloden Road, St. Michael yesterday, Farah noted the importance of “bridging the gap” between the two regions. He indicated that this could be possible through UNESCO but suggested that it had to be agreed upon by all Member States in order to work effectively.
The UNESCO representative said that his organisation has always been successful with its education programmes, and was of the view that the region possessed skills that could be used to assist many of the refugee camps.
Farah praised Barbados as an expert in off-shore banking and welcomed further discussions about how the sector was run.
Senator McClean suggested that UNESCO could identify a few projects that they wanted small island developing states to assist it with.
She noted that the exchange of cultures would be useful especially since Barbados and its Historic Garrison were added as UNESCO world heritage sites. She stated that Barbados had been successful in its thrust to educate its citizens and she believed that Barbadians could play an important role with the refugee programme.