Senator Darcy Boyce, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, responsible for Energy, Immigration, Telecommunications and Invest Barbados, has also been made responsible for business facilitation.

Investors and the local business community now have a point person in the Prime Minister's Office with whom they can consult whenever they face bottlenecks.

Prime Minister Freundel Stuart revealed that Minister Boyce's new designation would "require him to identify blockages in the system and have them removed or clarified where possible, or brought to the Prime Minister's attention." The Prime Minister noted it was clear that someone of the statute of a Minister was needed to assist in propelling the business process, especially as it related to certain government agencies.

"I took the decision that I'm going to have a minister assigned to drive these processes at Immigration and Town Planning departments and make sure that the concerns of businesses whenever raised are pursued with single mindedness so that wherever the bottlenecks are, they can be identified and removed as swiftly as possible without compromising the standard of either the Immigration Department or the Town Planning Department."

This new arrangement is expected to boost confidence among investors that their concerns will be dealt with efficiently and expeditiously since they now have a designated Minister who can directly assist in bringing about resolve.

Adapted from the Barbados Government Information Service

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.