The visiting dignitaries and participants in the first-ever AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF) were feted to Bajan culture and culinary delights on Wednesday evening.
The event was held hours after a chartered flight landed at the Grantley Adams International Airport with 193 passengers. That Ethiopian Airlines flight came directly from Lagos, Nigeria.
Under the theme One People. One Destiny.Uniting And Reimagining Our Future, Invest Barbados, Export Barbados and African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) are hosting the inaugural meeting from September 1 to 3, at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
The welcome reception, held at the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, was produced by conference partner, the National Cultural Foundation.
Scores attended the welcome reception at the Barbados Museum and Historical Society.
Senior Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Dr The Most Honourable Jerome Walcott welcomed participants of the conference to Barbados and noted that the ACTIF 2022 forum was intended to help bolster relations between Africa and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
“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,” he told those in attendance.
Minister Walcott highlighted that the forum aimed to strengthen collaboration in the areas of trade and investment, and the tourism and culture sectors, and facilitate innovation and entrepreneurship.
In his remarks, Afreximbank’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ronald Sibongiseni Ntuli highlighted the significance of the African delegation’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.
“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,” Ntuli stated.
He said the “groundbreaking” forum provided a wonderful opportunity for people 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.
Those attending the welcome reception had the opportunity to view exhibits at the Barbados Museum, including the African Exhibition. They were also entertained by the Barbados National Youth Steel Orchestra, Biggie Irie, Mahalia, Rhesa Garnes, Nikita, and Edwin Yearwood. (IMC)
