Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kerrie Symmonds wants the imbalance in trade between Barbados and Canada to be addressed.
He made the call at Friday night’s Canada Day reception at Fairmont Royal Pavilion Hotel in St James, saying to Canada’sHigh Commissioner Lilian Chatterjee that while Barbados appreciated Canada’s generosity and support in several areas, “there is a need for us to correct what is a US$40 million trade imbalance between Barbados and Canada, recorded every year on average”.
“The point is, we have a significant trade imbalance and we can only really correct it if we are able to access Canada’s market for the ability that we have to export our services there and that is the kind of more mature conversations I think we must now have.”
However, he noted that Barbados had benefitted from the bilateral investment treaty and the double taxation agreement with Canada. (GC)