Barbados Strengthening Diplomatic Ties with Honduras: New Ambassador Presents Credentials and Proposes Agreements

On April 25, 2024, Barbados’ Ambassador to Panama and Central America, presented credentials to Her Excellency President Xiomara Castro as our country’s newest diplomatic envoy to the Republic of Honduras.

Ambassador Walcott shares that Honduras has looked very favorably upon the proposal to sign several agreements with Barbados, including, air services, cultural cooperation, and a double taxation treaty.

“This represents an important milestone in Barbados’ Foreign Policy as we signal to our Central American neighbors that we are ready to further engage them politically, commercially, and culturally.”

Barbados congratulated President Castro on her ascension to the Pro-Tempore Presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).

As we prepare to host We Gatherin’ 2025 and CARIFESTA 2025, Ambassador Walcott, on behalf of the Barbados Government also issued invitations to our Diaspora and to our Central American friends to participate in both these major cultural events.

“Over the next few months, we will see more Central and Latin American countries accredited to Barbados by opening new embassies in Bridgetown or shifting their non-residentambassadors to Panama City. Now that we have the frequency of COPA Airline flights between Panama and Barbados, it makes sense for many of our diplomatic partners to operate from Panama City because of the easy connection between the two countries. Honduras is one such country that has responded positively to this recommendation.”

“Finally, we continue to build out Barbados’ impressive network of Honorary Consuls. This has served us very well in the past and assures our citizens that their interests are well looked after anywhere in the world. In this region, we currently have such Consuls in Panama, Guatemala, Colombia, and Costa Rica. We will widen this network shortly with our usual meticulousrecruitment process,” Walcott added.

Barbados established diplomatic relations with Honduras on December 07, 1992. Engagements remain essentially in the multilateral arena of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the Organization of American States (OAS), and the United Nations as members of the Group of Latin and Caribbean states (GRULAC). At the regional level, the relationship between CARICOM and the Central American Integration System (SICA) provides an additional forum for engagement between Barbados and Honduras. However, it is expected that with our renewed diplomatic focus on Central America, bilateral relations with Honduras will become a lot more active. (PR)