India PM makes offers to help Barbados in several areas

Barbados and India reaffirmed and strengthened their bilateral relationship on Wednesday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Prime Minister Mia Mottley on the margins of the India-CARICOM Summit in Guyana.

The two leaders, who met at the UN General Assembly in September, reviewed ongoing cooperation across several key areas including health, pharma, climate change, culture and people-to-people ties.

On her social media pages, Prime Minister Mottley disclosed that the meeting also focused on institutional reforms, economic collaboration, and the empowerment of the Global South.

For his part, Prime Minister Modi said he had a very good meeting with the Barbadian leader.

“Our talks covered areas such as science and technology, healthcare, education, climate change and agriculture,” he said.

Modi also expressed gratitude at being awarded the Honorary Order of Freedom of Barbados Award.

“This honour is dedicated to the people of India,” he said.

Mottley said the CARICOM meeting with Prime Minister Modi was a historic moment for the 15-nation grouping: “We are honoured to host this important engagement.”

The Indian leader offered to share his country’s expertise and experience in areas such as agriculture and technology development. Modi also proposed that India supply passenger and cargo ferries to the region to aid intra-regional connectivity. Together, he said, India and the region can also work on maritime zoning.

Modi identified agriculture and food security as another important pillar of cooperation between the two sides.

He noted that India is transforming its agricultural sector with the use of technology such as drones, digital farming mechanisation and soil testing.

Additionally, he said that while sargassum is a big problem in the region that affects the hotel and tourism industry, India has developed technology to make fertiliser with the seaweed.

“This technology can not only help you to solve this problem but can also increase crop yield. India is ready to share all these experiences with CARICOM countries,” Modi said. (BT)