REDjet provides tough lessons for foreign investors in the Caribbean

“REDjet might still have been flying if the Barbados Government had honoured financial commitments to the collapsed airline.”

Former Prime Minister Owen Arthur talks to The Nation about the DLP’s failure to honour its promises.

Owen Arthur chides DLP for breaking REDjet promises – conveniently forgets he did the same thing with other foreign investors

Submitted by One Who Knows

For a man who himself made false promises to major foreign investors just to entice them to Barbados, Owen Arthur has some nerve criticizing the DLP for their handling of REDjet.

Not that the DLP government is undeserving of criticism over the REDjet matter. The point is that both DLP and BLP governments have shown they will say and promise anything to a foreign investor: at least until the cash arrives. The promises aren’t always about money or tax breaks, sometimes they are about changing the laws to facilitate business or protection of the environment, or putting in roads and sewerage treatment to encourage development.

Unfortunately that long-established history of promising anything to potential investors but then failing to keep up the agreement is starting to cost Barbados credibility in the eyes of the world.

“So long for now” to Nicole Garofano… and thanks!

“We have 166sq miles to make this country home, to feed ourselves, to dispose of our waste, to provide jobs, to welcome the 1.1 million visitors per year, to make a sustainable use of the resources we are blessed with and to enhance our general well being. Land use policies must be fervently considered to ensure a sustainable future for all those living now, and those to come, if Barbados is to continue to prosper in a holistic manner. What we do to our lands, we do to ourselves.”

… Future Centre Trust

After 8 years of hard work at The Future Centre Trust, practical environmentalist supreme Nicole Garofano headed home to her native Australia.

When she first arrived in Bim back in 2004, Nicole thought she would visit Barbados for three months. Fortunately for us she stuck around and devoted almost a decade to making our home cleaner and better in so many ways. In her last few years her voice became louder cautioning about our loss of agricultural lands and the dangers of giving up on producing as much of our own food as we can.

Shawn Cumberbatch’s article in Barbados Today gives a good overview of the legacy Nicole Garofano leaves for Barbados. There’s lots more to be done, but Nicole added well to the foundation laid by Doctor Colin Hudson and others.

Thanks, Nicole!

Barbados Today: Dream fulfilled