Prime Minister Met Bajans in New York Coming Back This Weekend To Be Feted In City

By Tony Best

Conventional wisdom holds that when the U.S. economy goes into a tailspin, the Caribbean can expect to suffer after shocks.

It doesn’t take rocket science to figure out why.

After all, the economic umbilical cord, which binds the North American economic colossus and the island-nations and coastal states washed by the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean manifests itself in trade and investment, remittances and the presence and viability of a large Caribbean immigrant population in the U.S. almost guarantees a downturn in economic fortunes when America’s prosperity is threatened.

Although David Thompson, Barbados’ new Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, seemingly agrees with that bit of accepted wisdom he explained it differently.

“There is always the perception that when countries like the United States of America and parts of Europe from which Barbados may be the recipient of significant investment face economic challenges, that those challenges immediately translate into problems in Barbados,” was the way the Prime Minister put it to at least 200 well-dressed Bajans who travelled from different parts of the City to “meet our Prime Minister,” as one of them put it.

So, it didn’t come as a surprise when Thompson and key members of his economic and financial team came to Wall Street the other day to meet with executives of the credit rating firms, Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s in particular, to explain his government’s economic policies and how it believes the recession is going to affect the island-nation. At the same time he wanted to hear from them how they assess the Barbados economic and social picture and the fall-out the island-nation can expect from the gyrations of the U.S. economy.

It also didn’t surprise many when the word went through the Bajan community like the proverbial wild fire that Thompson was going to be in town and he wanted to rub shoulders with Bajan-New Yorkers, in much the same way that his immediate predecessor, Owen Arthur, had done.

But if the trip to Wall Street and the reception given by the government didn’t catch people off guard, Thompson admitted that the formal way Bajans were dressed and how they were seated around tables surprised him, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, Senator Darcy Boyce, and the Director of Finance and economic Affairs, Grantley Smith.

“Let me say that I was taken a bit by surprise. Our concept of a cocktail party in Barbados is as you know are informal gatherings at which people stand and walk around and chat, then at the appointed hour when the guest of honour leaves, they leave. There are no speeches, no tables. There is nothing like this,” the Prime Minister noted. “So Darcy (Senator Boyce) and I both prepared to do what we would do on the normal cocktail circuit which I usually avoid.”

Actually, that comment was an explanation for the open neck shirts and blazers worn by Thompson and Boyce compared with the evening suits that the other men wore and the somewhat formal attire of the women.

In his short address which lasted less than 10 minutes, the Prime Minister spoke about his government’s policies during the first 100 days in office; the cost of living, governance, education, the emphasis on housing and health care; the reasons for the Wall Street meetings; the importance of remittances; and the relationship which he wants with Bajans abroad.

Although he didn’t discuss the details of conversations on Wall Street, he seemingly went out of his way to point out that “as happened with successive governments” most people with whom they spoke were “impressed with the quality of life we enjoy in Barbados.” In addition, the word was that “we have many features of our economic, political and social development that are special and unique and that mark us as an outstanding country.”

During the almost two hours he spent with the Bajans at Fleur-de-Lis, a catering centre in Ridgewood, Queens, the Prime Minister, who was introduced to the audience by David Gibbs, the Consul, “worked the room,” meeting and greeting almost everyone individually.

It was an evening devoid of any political histrionics but full of camaraderie and pleasantries which reflect the maturity for which Bajans and other West Indians have become known.

Incidentally, the Prime Minister and his wife are due in New York City this weekend to attend the celebratory dinner of the Cumber School Alumni Association on Saturday, May 3 at Paradise Caterers in Brooklyn, 51 Avenue U.

Among those present at the reception were Dr. Marion Williams, Governor of the Central Bank, Lenox Price, the next Consul-General in New York, Dr. Chris Hackett, Ambassador to the United Nations, representatives of the Barbados Tourism Authority and the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation, Irving Burgie, composer of the lyrics of the national anthem, the very Rev. Eddie Alleyne, a Rural Dean of the Episcopal Church in Brooklyn and Priest in Charge of St. Gabriel’s, Canon Llewellyn Armstrong, Rector of Calvary St. Cyprian’s Church, and Rudy Barrow, President of Combermere Alumni Association, one of the oldest Bajan organizations in America.

 

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