Minister of Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon. Maxine McClean, has hailed the 44 years of diplomatic relations between Barbados and Australia, during the Australia Day celebrations on Friday night.
She expressed that the relations, which date back to January 7th, 1974, have been both cordial, co-operative and beneficial.
She was at the time addressing the 2018 reception held at the “Open Kitchen” Restaurant, #1 Millhouse Complex, Canewood. Australia Day, marked on January 26th, is an important date in Australia’s history and has changed over time: starting as a celebration for emancipated convicts and evolving into what is now a celebration of Australia that reflects the nation’s diverse people.
“Both countries share membership of the Commonwealth and engage in that forum on matters of mutual interest. In this regard, Barbados recognises and appreciates the international support which Australia gives to climate change-related issues in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), using the Pacific islands as its reference area,” she indicated.
“Of course, I must mention the sport of Cricket, which enjoys almost religious status in both of our countries. While I will confess that within recent years our teams have been having different fortunes, our relations have remained friendly and strong and advancing towards a century. Maybe some technical assistance for our team is warranted.”
Senator McClean also conveyed that while Barbados highly values Australia’s commitment and contribution in climate change, there remains keen interest in increasing co-operation to other areas. She said these include areas of disaster preparedness and food security.
“We also wish to continue discussion with Australia towards the signing of a Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) which we feel will enable the Australian private sector to use Barbados as a base from which to do business across CARICOM and Latin America.”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade further stressed that Barbados and Australia have enjoyed long-standing friendly relations and mutual benefit.
“However, there is much more that we can and should pursue,” she added. (TL)