The move is intended to build cooperation but it will also help the Barbadian economy.
Officials from Barbados announced Thurday the removal of visa requirements for 30 countries across multiple regions of the world as a means of promoting tourism and investment in the country.
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The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Senator Dr. Jerome Walcott, made the announcement at a press conference Thursday at the Barbados Government Offices.
“Three weeks ago, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs brought to Cabinet and was approved a paper for Barbados to establish relationships with 30 countries which we didn’t have relationships with before.”
Countries slated to have their visa requirements lifted are several African nations, including Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, Morocco, Senegal, Rwanda and Burkina Faso.
Othes countries on the list include the Gulf states of Bahrain, Jordan, Oman and Qatar; and the Asian nations of Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and India.
“We recognize that it is important for us to strengthen the relationships with the present countries with which we have been doing business for several years and indeed to make new friends in the global world and to seek new opportunities,” Dr. Walcott said.
Indeed, commentators from the African nations affected by these changes applauded the move towards more integration with the continent, saying the move was made with “globalization in mind.”
Barbados cuts visa requirement for 30 countries including Liberia.
— Liberia Positives (@Libpositives) May 18, 2019
The move was made with globalization in mind and recognizing the need to expand the tourism and trade sectors and to foster new relationships.
Read more at https://t.co/gqDSP4eDEW#Barbados #Liberia #Africa pic.twitter.com/R3eeM1lyaW
The move is intended to build cooperation but also to help the Barbadian economy, with Dr. Walcott adding, “And in terms of Barbados, we depend on tourism returns, we depend on investments and opportunities for business and in this regard we recognize that in terms of travel, that the stipulations of having visas act sometimes as a deterrent for tourists and indeed persons who are seeking to establish business and interact with the country.”