Bajans in Middle East ‘safe’

As conflict breaks out in the Middle East, Senior Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Chris Sinckler is reporting that Barbadians in missions in that region are safe.

He was responding to questions yesterday in the Well of the House of Assembly as the Estimates Debate continued into its second day.

“Our very first priority in this entire exercise as it unfolds with the high degree of uncertainty that abounds, is to ensure that our staff at the mission in the United Arab Emirates, headed by our Ambassador Annalee Babb, also members of staff, and equally as well, the wider Barbadian population who are either visiting or residents across the Middle East, are actually safe, are sheltering in place, and are in connection with us,” Sinckler said in response to a question from Member of Parliament Dr William Duguid.

He stated that the Barbados Government Information Service had not only put out a statement on the conflict, but also on the individuals.

“That is our first priority, to ensure the safety of personnel, Barbadians over there, and, of course, assets,” he stated.

The minister said that as the situation unfolded and the length of time it continued would determine whether Barbados entered into negotiations – once the airspace is open – for those who want to be repatriated back to Barbados.

“My understanding is that there’s some movement there. We cannot speak to it now because it’s still in its very embryonic stages, but we are working on that specifically,” he said.

On the broader issue of the other immediate and significant impacts, the remit was to gather the necessary intelligence as to “what is happening, how it is happening, and when it is likely to begin to seep through to Barbados and, of course, the rest of the Caribbean”.

“In doing so, we will build strategic relationships, as I said, under team Barbados with the specific ministries here at home domestically to begin to analyse how we respond, how we advise the Cabinet and the Government to respond to those issues.

“The early issues are, of course, in energy. We can see that there’s movement in the price of oil.

“We know that there are supply chain issues because a significant part of the cargo on commodities and other supplies comes through the Strait of Hormuz. So we know that there will be effects of that coming down.

“We do not know how significant those will be, but we are beginning to have those conversations. Both papers and other instruments are being prepared to be shared once approved by Cabinet, of course with the wider Government, and then of course for those parts which can be notified to the public,” Sinckler said.

Government was also looking to engage trade unions and the private sector along with others in the wider society to alert them as to the challenges which could occur and to mitigate them, he explained.

“Of course, central to a lot of that – is if it becomes as difficult as we anticipate it will be with a prolongation of the conflict – is, of course, would be the Ministry of Finance and how the Government, the administration, then responds to assisting Barbadians.

“But for the moment, monitoring, intelligence gathering, consultation, and of course a drafting of a first medium and a longer-term reaction depending on how the conflict unfolds,” he said.

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