Barbados will observe a single bank holiday on July 31, 2023.
Next week, when the leaders of CARICOM convene in Trinidad, they will celebrate CARICOM’s 50th anniversary in a variety of ways.
The actual agreement for the Community was signed on August 1, 1973. As of today, the Cabinet has decided, after consulting with the Social Partnership, that Barbados will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Caribbean Community on July 31, 2023, as a national public holiday, on the eve of August 1, which is still revered by us as a former slave society as Emancipation Day.
The prime minister stated, “We felt that to do it on July 4th would have been a little too early.” The prime minister noted that some other CARICOM nations in the Caribbean had decided to observe a holiday on that date in 2023.
She remarked that Barbados would be best suited by this date at this point in time. As a government, we concluded that the creation of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was the greatest opportunity to show our appreciation for the visionary leadership of those who came before us and to make a difference.
