Barbados Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Maxine McClean, and Ambassador of China to Barbados, Wang Ke (Loop Barbados)
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — Senator Maxine McClean, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, and Wang Ke, Chinese Ambassador to Barbados, signed a protocol Monday between the Barbados Defence Force and the People’s Liberation Army of China.
During the signing, McClean explained that the initialization of the document followed the signing of an agreement between the Barbados Defence Force and China on March 15. Under this agreement, China will provide Barbados with military aid gratis, valued at about $3 million.
“The protocol signed today serves to detail the specific equipment which the People’s Liberation Army has agreed to provide to the Barbados Defence Force,” McClean said. “It should be noted that although the Chinese government has donated military equipment to Barbados on previous occasions — military equipment which has been a tremendous benefit to the Barbados Defence Force in the execution of its duties — this is the largest such donation to date.”
The senator also stressed that the agreement would continue the strong tradition of nation building, a major tenet of which is the security of Barbados and its people.
“The aid is therefore of paramount importance, not only as an opportunity to assist our military but to secure our gains over the past 50 years,” she said.
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