About

The ABCF’s mission is to build a deeper understanding between the Chinese people and Barbadians and Caribbean people from all walks of life. The association’s focus is on personal experiences, people-to-people contact, cultural exchanges and exchanges of ideas, and the facilitation of travel, business and study. We aim to learn from and build on the experiences of the Caribbean and China, and to develop mutual understandings and support that will be to the benefit of both sides.

The Association was launched at a gala event at the Barbados Hilton on May 23, 2019, attended by representatives of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the Government of Barbados and the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in Barbados. The event featured performances by a troupe from the Minzu University of China as well as Barbadian performers.

Performers at the launch gala

The Association publishes an online magazine, Exchanges, the first three issues of which may be found on our website, ABCF-BB.com. The website also features a weekly compilation of commentary and news on China, from sources which offer in-depth coverage and expert perspectives that are not available from Western news media. The subjects cover many aspects of society, culture and economy. The topics of recent commentaries have included China’s space station, sustainable fashion on display in Shanghai, a story from Chinese social media on a disabled villager, an American student’s experiences of green spaces in Beijing, Chinese-built jetliners, electric cars and high-speed trains, comments on Chinese social media from residents of Shanghai during the recent Covid lockdown, and a photographer who makes funeral portraits in rural China. The commentaries include several eyewitness testimonies of poverty alleviation programmes in China, stories from the Chinese diaspora in the US and the Caribbean, stories from the history and culture of China, and travelogues.

The ABCF website also has records of past events of the Association and other institutions with which it is affiliated, including the Confucius Institute and the Fish and Dragon Festival, sponsored by the Central Bank of Barbados and the embassy of the PRC in Barbados. Other material on the website includes a lecture on the Belt and Road Initiative by Dr Hongshen REN of the China University of Political Science and Law, and Confucius Institute lectures entitled “China Offers a Window of Opportunity for the Caribbean” by Dr Chelston Brathwaite and “How China’s Economic Success Contributes to Caribbean Prosperity” by Dr DeLisle Worrell.

The ABCF has established links with other local and Caribbean associations and institutions, including the Confucius Institutes in Barbados and Antigua-Barbuda, the Chinese Associations of Barbados and Trinidad-Tobago, the Returning Students Association of Barbados, the Modern Languages Club at the UWI Cave Hill, and friendship associations in Jamaica, Haiti, Grenada and Suriname. Our association has been supported from its inception by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries in Beijing; we have entered an active collaboration on a programme oriented to the interests of youth with the Zhejiang International Studies University in Hangzhou, and we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding of cooperation with the Zibo People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries of Zibo City, Shandong Province.

The principal officers of the ABCF are:

Dr DeLisle Worrell, President

Dr Chelston Brathwaite, Vice-President

David Bulbulia, Vice-President

Deborah Harper, Secretary

Daniel Hinds, Assistant Secretary

Sarah Grant, Administrative Officer

Phone: 1 246 288 1356
Email: ABCFBBassn@gmail.com
Address: Floyd H. Phillips
Solicitor and Attorney-at-law
Suite 102, Warrens Court
Warrens
St Michael
Barbados