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BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Barbados is working toward introducing a National Digital ID, which could be rolled out over the next six months.
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley shared this information on Wednesday as she spoke about the delivery economy, which has emerged significantly with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The delivery economy is right now with us and we only need to nurture it…. For decades, the supermarkets were trying to do it, they never got anywhere; banks were trying to do it, they didn’t get any buy-in and all of a sudden, everybody now realises contactless commerce is here and needs to be exploited,” said Mottley was speaking at a Webinar hosted by Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) entitled: Business Unusual – Recalibrating Business and National Strategies for Economic Growth and Investment Creation.
The Prime Minister stressed that the momentum was there, and Barbados was trying to ensure the completion of the digital payments process within the next few months.
“So that not only matters pertaining to food but the delivery of pension cheques from our social security agencies will be a thing of the past. That we can literally have welfare benefits and child maintenance benefits and all of these things ultimately loaded on to a phone or card, depending…. We are now moving, in our own case in Barbados, to the national digital ID, which hopefully will be rolled out over the course of the next six months,” she added.
Mottley expressed the view that the region must protect the health of its citizens and its visitors in this COVID-19 environment.
She opined that the region must exploit its good track record in public health during this crisis; noting that over the years, the region had produced public health giants who made a difference regionally and globally.
The history of the Caribbean’s interaction with public health must be shared with the world, she suggested, so persons could understand why it is well placed to offer health tourism.
