BIBA welcomes passport-free Barbados-Guyana travel

Private sector leaders have welcomed a new passport-free travel arrangement between Barbados and Guyana, describing it as a significant step towards reducing cross-border friction and accelerating regional integration, particularly for business and investment.

Carmel Haynes, the executive director of the Barbados International Business Association (BIBA), strongly endorsed the passport-free travel arrangement, characterising it as a major strategic milestone for regional commerce and south-south cooperation. The initiative will allow eligible travellers to bypass traditional passport requirements by utilising secure, modern identification cards, including the Barbados Trident ID card.

Haynes stressed that the initiative will deepen integration between Barbados and Guyana.

She told Barbados TODAY: “As we recognise that our traditional markets, namely Canada, Europe, you know, the UK, that we’re facing significant competition onshore, from those financial centers and that it’s important for Barbados to be able to expand its reach, and new markets and into new markets.

“This, as we know, is just another step in the Sr Barnabas Accord between Guyana and Barbados, that is to deepen integration between the two nations. We’ve heard about the talk of this one domestic space, coming out of this accord. And so, the facilitation of allowing Barbadian and, Guyanese nationals to travel only utilising their national ID is just one more step within this framework.”

By eliminating the time-consuming hurdles often associated with regional transit, the framework establishes a more agile corporate environment for regional stakeholders to scope out projects firsthand.

The passport-free travel mechanism represents the latest operational phase of the St Barnabas Accord, a comprehensive bilateral cooperation agreement signed between Barbados and Guyana to deepen integration. Haynes observed that the timing of the announcement carries profound symbolic and historical weight, as both Caribbean Community nations celebrate 60 years of political independence this year. 

“The step between Guyana and Barbados, in the year that both nations are celebrating their 60th anniversary of independence, is really a strategic and momentous step,” Haynes said.

While the concept of passport-free movement inside Caricom has been a long-standing aspiration, Haynes pointed out that the region has successfully trialled similar frameworks in the past. She recalled the 2007 International Cricket Council World Cup, where host nations enacted temporary sunset legislation to establish a single domestic space.

“This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this in 2007 with the International Cricket Council World Cup, where we saw that one domestic space created between the nine host countries for the World Cup, where you had the facility to travel visa-free,” Haynes explained. “Since then, people have still been talking about the convenience of that free movement of travelers for business and tourism, and how can we get back there.”

The liberalisation of travel comes at a critical juncture for both economies. Driven by an unprecedented oil windfall, Guyana is currently seeing a massive economic boom and requires rapid infrastructural scaling. Meanwhile, Barbados is actively reshaping its economic strategies to expand its reach beyond traditional onshore financial markets in Europe, Canada and the United Kingdom, which face mounting global competition.

“We have seen our prime minister  really focused on South-South cooperation, building those linkages within Latin America, the Southern Caribbean, Africa, etc., as we recognise that our traditional markets, namely Canada, Europe, the UK, that we’re facing significant competition onshore from those financial centers,” Haynes said. “The facilitation of allowing Barbadian and Guyanese nationals to travel only utilising their national ID is just one more step within this framework.”

According to the BIBA chief, a key benefit to the international business industry lies in Barbados’ ability to act as a highly experienced corporate services conduit for capital flowing into Guyana. She highlighted that Barbados possesses an extensive network of double taxation treaties and benefits directly from the Caricom tax treaty.

“The Guyanese economy, thanks to its oil windfall, it’s seeing a definite economic boom, but we’ve also seen that there are certain industries within Barbados where we are poised to be able to assist Guyana to help them keep pace with their growth,” Haynes added.

“Companies can set up in Barbados, use the CARICOM Tax Treaty as a route into Guyana as well, and therefore, you know, you get the benefit of those tax savings.”

Barbados also offers a deep, mature pool of professional talent across the legal, accounting and corporate management sectors, developed over more than five decades of servicing multinational firms, she added.

“Guyana, they’re now ramping up in that regard, and Barbados has a wealth of talent because, again, we’ve been servicing international companies for over five decades,” Haynes said. “In terms of incorporations, understanding how to do cross-border incorporations, transactions, etc., we do have a lot of scope here in Barbados to be able to support the business that’s happening in Guyana.”

Despite the ease of movement introduced by the framework, Haynes emphasised that the arrangement is not an unregulated system, noting that rigorous security protocols have been embedded directly into the plan.

Both nations have transitioned to highly advanced, secure biometric identification cards. “Obviously, you know, there is the security element that we have to consider, and we can see from all accounts that this has been heavily vetted and that there are going to be security considerations that are going to be implemented, so it’s definitely not going to be a free-for-all,” Haynes said.

“The Trident ID is a much securer form of ID than our previous national ID, and we also see with Guyana that they have a secure ID as well. So I think we should have a little bit more confidence in the travelers who are coming across.”

(RR)