Barbara Ellington, Lifestyle Editor

ARTHUR

Barbadian Prime Minister Owen Arthur has pledged that all pre-school children in his country will have free and compulsory education in the next phase of his development plan.

Prime Minister Arthur made the pledge at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston on Monday night during a reception in honour of his country's 40th anniversary of independence.

The Barbadian Prime Minister also spelled out the strides made by his country since independence but said he was not satisfied with his island being just a developing country.

"My national improvement plan for the period 2005-2025 is that we should be successful in building a world-class society with a world-class economy, with a world-class social system and world-class infrastructure for the next generation of Barbadians," he told his audience, which included Barbadian nationals.

Expanding free education

The highly successful Prime Minister reminded the gathering that his country already enjoyed free education at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels but, by 2020, the plan would be to give the University of the West Indies (Cave Hill campus) all the land and financial capacity it needs to produce one university graduate per household within the time frame specified.

He also noted that, although the island would host two major world events within three months of each other, starting with a World Championship Golf Tournament next week and the ICC Cricket World Cup next year, those were not the most important things happening in Barbados.

"I am looking for a better and brighter future in which we are not just the world's leading developing country; I am not satisfied with that. As much as we are proud of what we have achieved, we can do even more," he said. "I want us to be the first fully developed country in the region."

Prime Minister Arthur also told the gathering that he wanted to see full integration of regional economies as the context in which the future development would take place.