Republic activities to be known soon

Barbadians should soon know the list of events being held to celebrate the island’s Republic status.

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley made the comments during a wide-ranging press conference on Thursday, to update on her participation in the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland.

Ms. Mottley continued: “I think we will be rolling out the activities for the Republic, probably by next week, once we have fine-tuned most of them….  We are doing things sensitive to the COVID-19 pandemic, but also reflecting the moment in time.”

Barbados will be observing its 55^th anniversary of Independence on November 30^th, when the island will become a Republic.  The Prime Minister reiterated that come December 1, it will not be business as usual.

“That’s why we’ve given the targets at Glasgow that by 2030 we will remove fossil fuel-driven electricity as far as possible.  We will have still some limited natural gas, which is why we say 95 per cent, … because there is still a transition point,” she explained.

Ms. Mottley disclosed that before yearend, 50 tourism workers, and another 200, in January, would be going to work in the United States.  She stated that the office in Miami had been working assiduously to find opportunities for Barbadians, as the island’s hotel and tourism sector recovers, following the blow from the COVID-19 pandemic.

She noted that the September and October tourism numbers were trending upwards, as she reminded about the new airlift, including KLM and Aer Lingus.  “We need to see the resumption of Lufthansa as well going forward.  As we speak, the others are at the World Travel Market and I’m confident that Barbados will see improvement in both numbers and airlift,” she indicated.