BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – A Vincentian-American is leading an initiative to bring the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean later this year.
International business law specialist Dustin Delany of the Barbados-based law firm Delany Finisterre noted at said at a recent the presence of AmChams in several other Caribbean territories, including the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
“The obvious void existing here in the region is Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, a void that has long been recognized by existing Caribbean AmChams,” Delany said.
Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean will soon join the worldwide family of countries with American Chambers of Commerce (AmCham), the U.S. Embassy said in a press statement.
This announcement was made recently at a business reception where new U.S. Ambassador to Barbados Larry L. Palmer met with members of the American business community in Barbados.
Palmer urged the businesspeople to participate in the “very exciting development” which will see a shared chamber for seven Eastern Caribbean countries, adding to the 115 AmChams currently in existence in 102 countries around the globe.
Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines will make up the new chamber.
“The American Chamber of Commerce is coming to you soon — and we want to be a part of it,” Palmer said as he spoke of the Embassy’s commitment “to further support and strengthen the U.S.-Barbados economic relationship” and the role the AmCham can play.
“We need to take our partnership between business and government to the next level, and I think — no I know –the American Chamber of Commerce can help,” Palmer stated.
American Chambers of Commerce are voluntary associations of American companies and individuals doing business in a particular country, as well as firms and individuals of that country who operate in the United States. AmChams work to promote trade and investment between the United States and the particular country or countries where they are based.
The announcement of the chamber, which will be launched in fall 2012, came just ahead of Global Economic Statecraft Day, a worldwide event organized by the U.S. Department of State to highlight the important economic work of U.S. diplomats and development experts around the world.
It is part of the Economic Statecraft agenda launched by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last year, in recognition of the fact that the United States’ global leadership rests on a foundation of economic prosperity and cooperation.
“Our foreign and economic relations remain indivisible,” Clinton said to the Economic Club of New York when she launched the agenda in New York City in October 2011.
Palmer echoed these sentiments, emphasizing the pivotal role that the AmericanChamber of Commerce is expected to play in Embassy Bridgetown’s economic statecraft efforts.
“We can and must do much more in the coming years to advance this economic statecraft agenda, and we need the business community to be our full partner. We want to have the AmericanChamber be our focus. We need to sit down together more, brainstorm, plan, coordinate, and work together to promote American business,” he said.