Bar­ba­dos Wednes­day pre­sent­ed the Hon­orary Free­dom of Bar­ba­dos Award to In­dia’s Prime Min­is­ter, Shri Naren­dra Mo­di, with Bridgetown set to strength­en its com­mer­cial ties with the Asian coun­try as it con­tin­ues to ex­pand its diplo­mat­ic foot­print glob­al­ly.

For­eign Af­fairs and For­eign Trade Min­is­ter, Ker­ry Sym­monds, speak­ing dur­ing a  brief cer­e­mo­ny at which the coun­try’s  high­est award was pre­sent­ed, high­light­ed the shared com­mit­ment be­tween Bar­ba­dos and In­dia to ad­dress glob­al chal­lenges, par­tic­u­lar­ly in the ar­eas of cli­mate change and health­care.

Pres­i­dent Dame San­dra Ma­son pre­sent­ed the award to Pabi­tra Margheri­ta, In­dia’s Min­is­ter of State for Ex­ter­nal Af­fairs at the cer­e­mo­ny which was al­so at­tend­ed by Prime Min­is­ter Mia Mot­t­ley and of­fi­cials from both coun­tries.

The award was pre­sent­ed to the In­di­an prime min­is­ter in recog­ni­tion of In­dia’s sup­port for Bar­ba­dos dur­ing the coro­n­avirus (COVID-19) pan­dem­ic.

Margheri­ta in ac­cept­ing the award on be­half of the In­di­an prime min­is­ter,  ex­pressed his grat­i­tude to Prime Min­is­ter Mot­tle, rais­ing her lead­er­ship. He de­scribed Mot­t­ley’s em­phat­ic and de­ci­sive ac­tions as key in strength­en­ing in­ter­na­tion­al ties and fos­ter­ing col­lab­o­ra­tion among na­tions.

Margheri­ta said he is hop­ing for con­tin­ued co­op­er­a­tion be­tween he two coun­tries, aim­ing to build a more re­silient and pros­per­ous fu­ture for both na­tions.

Bar­ba­dos and In­dia have en­joyed diplo­mat­ic re­la­tions since No­vem­ber 30, 1966.

BRIDGETOWN, Bar­ba­dos, Mar 5, CMC

CMC/fh/ir/2025