Above: Bridgetown (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Barbados and South Africa are exploring ways to deepen their cooperation.

Barbados Prime Minister Freundel Stuart recently held talks with South Africa’s High Commissioner to Barbados, Maureen Modiselle, discussing issues including the economic and social conditions after the end of apartheid and the pace of economic transformation in the country.

Following the meeting, Stuart said South Africa was an “emerging country that was highly regarded worldwide despite its continuing challenges, despite the global economic downturn.

South Africa is one of the BRICS countries from which Barbados and the wider Caribbean are looking to court tourists; without direct airlift, the country could pose the biggest tourism challenge among the group of five leading emerging economies.

Barbados and South Africa have had diplomatic relations since January 1994.