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Minister
of Foreign Affairs Gives the Facts
on Freeport Container Port
March 30, 2006
In light of recent commentary in the international and local media
concerning cargo bound for the United States from the Freeport Container
Port, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Fred Mitchell, met with the
press on Wednesday 29th March, 2006.
The Minister
described as “entirely untrue” accusations that The Bahamas is
responsible for the fact that US Customs is not present at the Port in
connection with the bilateral agreement known as the Megaports
Initiative.
The Initiative was
agreed between The Bahamas and US Governments and is similar to
bilateral agreements with several other countries with container ports. Under the Initiative, the US Government has provided
equipment to screen for radioactive material going through the ports,
together with training in the use of the equipment.
“It is a good
arrangement for the Port and its customers and good for The Bahamas,”
said the Minister. “The
Megaports Initiative is operating exactly as agreed and envisioned.
There was no question in the agreement about US Customs being
stationed in The Bahamas in this regard.
The question did not arise.
“It is simply an
agreement under which the US Government provides equipment to detect
radioactive material passing through the Port.
That’s it. There
was no question at that time about US Customs officials being stationed
at the Port for the purposes of helping with the detection of
radioactive material, so therefore it is incorrect and inaccurate for
anyone to assert that The Bahamas Government prevented US Customs
officials from being at the Port for that purpose.”
In addition, the
Minister pointed out that the agreement stipulates that if any
radioactive material were found it would not be disposed of in The
Bahamas.
In further response
to media commentary, the Minister said that there are three possibly
intersecting, but separate and distinct matters: “Beyond the Megaports
Initiative there is something called the ‘Container Security
Initiative’ (CSI), which is a separate initiative which has to do with
“pre clearing” cargo for security purposes into the United States.
“That initiative
(CSI) would require people from the US Homeland Security being stationed
in Freeport where facilities would have to be provided at the Port, but
the modalities of that have not yet been worked out or concluded.
Again, The Bahamas Government has no objection in principle
because we believe that the marketability of the Freeport Container Port
would be enhanced.”
“Thirdly, The
Bahamas is interested in actual US Customs pre clearance for the
Freeport Container Port in the same way in which passengers are
currently pre cleared in Nassau and Freeport.
That would also be good for the marketability of the Port and
enhance its attractiveness to customers.”
“These are three
separate issues which seemed to have been confused in the public
commentary, but The Bahamas and the US Governments have been
co-operating on passenger pre clearance since 1959 and there is no
reason to believe that this cannot work as well.”
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end --
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
29th March, 2006 |
