The Bahamas at the 28th Inter-Sessional Meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting
Caribbean Heads of Government pose for a formal photograph at 28th Inter-Sessional Meeting of CARICOM in Georgetown, Guyana on 16 February at the State House.
19th February, 2017
News Release
For Immediate Release
The Bahamas at the 28th Inter-Sessional Meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting
16-17 February, 2017 – Georgetown, Guyana
The Bahamas led the discussion about ‘Tourism in the Region’ on day 2 of the conference, with the Head of Delegation, Hon. Fred Mitchell, Minister of Foreign Affairs & Immigration updating the conference on developments at BahaMar and touristic advances on the islands of Abaco, Bimini and Exuma. The Foreign Minister also gave apologies for Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Perry Christie who was unable to attend the conference.
Minister Mitchell announced to the conference that legal graduates of the University of The Bahamas are now to be automatically accepted to the legal studies programmes at the University of the West Indies.
The Bahamas delegation to the Heads of Government conference of CARICOM in Georgetown, Guyana from left: Charlene Johnson, Foreign Service Officer; Ambassador-at-Large Stan Smith; the Minister of Foreign Affairs & Immigration Fred Mitchell; the Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hubert Chipman; and Honorary Consul for The Bahamas in Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Monica Davis.
A presentation was also made on behalf of Bahamas Minister of Tourism Hon. Obie Wilchcombe by a representative of the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association, who underlined the importance of tourism to the region and proposed a revival of a Caribbean-wide slogan that had been used successfully in the past: ‘Life Needs The Caribbean’.
Foreign Minister Mitchell used the opportunity of the conference to extend The Bahamas’ congratulations to St. Vincent & the Grenadines (SVG) on the official opening of that country’s first international airport. The Bahamas delegation attended the jubilant opening of the airport on Tuesday, 14th February, which was completed with the help and assistance of several countries around the world and at a cost of some USD 260 million. Minister Mitchell was supported by all other delegates as he noted that the new SVG airport was an advance for the entire Caribbean.
During a discussion of air transport around the region, Minister Mitchell updated the conference on the role of Bahamasair, which he announced to the conference now has a new fleet of aircraft. Bahamasair is now planning the inclusion of Trinidad & Tobago as a possible destination, which brings closer to reality, said Minister Mitchell, an aspiration of some if the earliest leaders of CARICOM that citizens would one day be able to leave Bermuda in the far north of the region in the morning and be in the southern Caribbean by dinner time at day’s end.
Conferences such as CARICOM’s Heads of Government:
1. Acts as a co-ordinating mechanism for the countries involved and as a practical management system for the region in matters of security, tourism, health and finance, among other issues of regional import.
2. Such meetings also function to facilitate legal and policy mechanisms through human, social and technical collaboration between countries.
3. High level technocrats and policy managers from participating countries have the opportunity for the critical sharing of information with others in their bloc.
4. In the global arena of the bi- and multi-lateral engagement, the Heads of Government conferences also provide the countries within the region with a socio-political space that is an opportunity to reinforce the founding aims and principles of CARICOM’s regionalism as a coherent political culture and ‘brand’ in the international community, equally serving as a coherent presence in contrast to ideologies and initiatives that do not necessarily align with the CARICOM ‘brand’.
Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell as head of delegation in the absence of the Prime Minister Perry Christie at the Heads of Government meeting of CARICOM in Georgetown, Guyana on 16th February. With the Minister is Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs Hubert Chipman.
The full text of the formal communique from CARICOM’s 28th Inter-Sessional Heads of Government meeting is available on the Community’s website at www.caricom.org