Prime Minister on multimillion-dollar grant
Tuesday June 21 2011 | 06:43 AM

GOVERNMENT is yet to identify the developmental projects on which the $6.5 million grant from the People’s Republic of China would be utilised.

Speaking on the signing of an agreement on economic and technical co-operation between the two countries, a component of which was the multimillion-dollar grant, Prime Minister Freundel Stuart stated that the critical areas in the economy would be fully considered in determining where the funds would be placed.

“Having all this available to Barbados, it now falls to us to identify projects on the basis of which those monies can be spent,” he said.

Addressing members of the media on Saturday after his week-long trip to China, Stuart noted: “We have to take full advantage of the offer put to us. The projects which we will pursue have to be in the context of Government’s priorities, existing economic conditions and where we think the implementation of these particular projects can help to boost growth, create jobs and keep the economic environment stable.

“...I do not want to particularise ‘project A’ or ‘project B’, because we will view the thing holistically and within the context that Barbados is now, what the imperatives are and where we need to go in the process,” he continued.

Commenting on the success of the trip, he added: “I did not contemplate the visit to China as some kind of [entertainment joy ride]. For me, it was to go and do serious business and to make a difference to what happens here in Barbados.

“So, based on all that I picked up and the commitments given, the determination of our embassy at Beijing to do the necessary follow-through and based on my own determination to ensure that our agencies and our ministries here do what they have to do to make our agreements affective, I think we have been better off with this visit,” he concluded.