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This will enhance the opportunities available to
Barbadians for wealth creation.
Tosupport newinvestment andeconomicgrowth,
we must also ensure that our legal and licensing
systems deliver just, predictable outcomes in a
speedy and low cost manner, and where possible,
electronically.
The Barbados Labour Party recognizes that
growth in our productive sectors comes
primarily from the private sector and that the
focus of Government and its agencies ought to
be to support, facilitate, regulate and partner
with the traditional and non-traditional private
sector, where necessary. We recognize also that
there is therefore a greater role to be played by
non-Government actors in the more efficient
management and development of the state
entities engaged in the productive sectors.
The process of transformation also requires a
better management of our substantial public
resources. Major public assets should be
registered in the public domain and placed in
a National Wealth Fund (NWF), the assets to be
managed independently of Central Government.
This will provide a transparent platform for co-
investing with the private sector, credit unions,
local banks, pension funds and the National
Insurance Scheme in developing these assets.
This fund will also present opportunities for major
international investment partnerships helping to
provide greater economic and financial diversity
to our domestic economy. This new model of
economic transformation would be agreed
through social dialogue and would place citizens
at the centre of the new economy.
It is also imperative that Barbados participates
in the global economy and takes full advantage
of all opportunities for economic growth and
development offered by our trade partners. We
must build on the opportunities afforded to us by
our international trade agreements.
WithinCARICOM, Barbados has lead responsibility
for the Single Market and Economy (CSME).
Further, CARICOM countries are our largest export
market, a major source of tourists and investment
for us. Accordingly, CSME remains the critical
platform for enhancing the domestic prosperity
of our citizens and businesses. We must embrace
the value of this opportunity to our services based
economy and more aggressively undertake our
leadership role in this project.
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