A Barbados delegation which recently returned from the UK and the African continent was not entirely funded by Government.That is according to Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kerrie Symmonds, who today stoutly refuted criticisms that Government was spending unnecessary money by travelling with large delegations without seeing any real benefits.Symmonds was responding to comments made by vice-president of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Paul Gibson, who called on Prime Minister Mia Mottley to disclose how much money the overseas trips were costing taxpayers and to disclose how they were benefiting the country.But Symmonds, who was part of that delegation that journeyed to the UK, Egypt and Rwanda, said he was “saddened” by the state of politics on the island.He said not only was there not a large Barbadian delegation, but a large portion of the trip was funded by the Inter-American Development Bank and the UN Foundation for Climate Change.
