, by government and the private sector, to renew the growth of tourism. as befits the country ’ s leading foreign exchange earner, there is a wealth of institutional arrangements for collaboration in the sector, and government agencies and tourism providers should seek ways to make this cooperation more fruitful. among other strategies for tourism, we should continue to enrich the menu of choices open to the visitor. central bank is proud of the restoration of the masonic lodge, and the museum of commerce, education and freemasonry that is being commissioned will enrich the bridgetown heritage experience. we should invest in the uniqueness of the bajan experience, including our other world heritage properties. in the international business and financial services sector, the challenge is to broaden barbados ’ market appeal. we have an impressive network of double taxation treaties, and we are seeking ways of using them all, to diversify the sources of international business income. we should make a big push to bring alternative energy to the take - off, via a mix of photovoltaics, wind, waste - to - energy, and possibly ethanol production. these are all by now well established technologies, and teething problems will have been ironed out. i believe households and firms should focus especially on generating their own power using bis central bankers ’ speeches photovoltaics. barbados is among the sunniest countries in the caribbean and the world. photovoltaic systems are now eminently affordable, about half the price of the typical family car, and government offers generous incentives for installation. there is the potential for employment generation in retailing systems, installation, servicing and maintenance. there is scope for innovation in adapting systems to optimise performance for local conditions, and developing intelligent control systems. financial institutions are allowing what should be a profitable avenue for growing business to go abegging. i have to say to all of you in the private sector that, with a few conspicuous exceptions – and i must single out williams evergreen – you are not covering yourselves with glory on this one. the rum industry is our major success in agriculture and manufacturing. its strength has been the shift towards premium aged rums, blended, bottled, packaged and branded in barbados for export. economies of scale are against us, and we cannot hope to be competitive in price with any agricultural or manufacturing product from countries that do large scale production. our agriculturalists and manufacturers need to follow the example of the rum producers : move up the value chain, produce a distinctive

to be somewhere in this region in the foreseeable future. once the existing distribution reserve has been depleted, we will most likely have to reduce our profit distributions significantly. cosa initiative the people ’ s initiative “ national bank profits for the old age and survivors'insurance fund ( ahv / avs ) ” – better known as the cosa initiative – proposes allocating the snb ’ s profits which remain after deducting the chf 1 billion for the cantons to the old age and survivors ’ insurance fund ( ahv / avs ). an obligation of this kind would impact on the national bank ’ s independence, putting it under political pressure to distribute higher profits, which in turn would only be possible were the snb to expand the money supply, reduce the currency reserves or take greater risks. this would undermine the snb ’ s credibility and freedom of action as well as compromise the stability of the swiss franc. the national bank ’ s most important task is to conduct monetary policy geared towards price stability. in order to do this, we have to be able to take monetary policy decisions – even in difficult situations – without political pressure or the obligation to generate a return.