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Remarks by
Hon. Fred Mitchell MP
Minister of Foreign Affairs & The Public Service
33rd Anniversary
Bahamian Independence Day Celebrations
Commemorative Church Service
Freewill Christian Center
Miami, Florida
Sunday 23rd July, 2006
It is a special honour and privilege to be with
the Bahamian community in South Florida to mark the 33rd
anniversary of the Independence of The Bahamas.
I want to wish you all happy Independence Day and
thank you all for coming out this afternoon. I wish to say a special
thank you to Consul General Alma Adams and the staff of the Consulate
General here in Miami for yet again organizing a comprehensive set of
celebrations for our country and countrymen abroad.
I bring you greetings on behalf of Prime Minister
the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie. He has asked me to say that the Government
deeply appreciates all the work that you do in this country for your new
country and for the country in which you were born. We are all as proud
of you and your successes here as you are of the country that you called
home.
Today, we are enjoying unprecedented success as a
country. There are billions of dollars of fresh investment in the
country, from the four billion dollar Ginn Investment in West End, Grand
Bahama to the multi billion dollar joint venture in Mayaguana to the
south.
I celebrated the actual Independence Day in Exuma
and I can tell you that there is unprecedented growth in Exuma. In just
two short years, the tourism figures alone tell a tale. The figures have
gone from 12,000 per year just two years ago, to 36,000 tourists last
year.
Last week, colleague Ministers joined the Prime
Minister to mark the topping off of the 1.6 billion dollar phase III of
Atlantis at Paradise Island. The Chairman of the Company Sol Kerzner
announced that there are some 3000 permanent jobs that will be open to
staff the new facility. The Bahamas is going to need manpower.
Over on Cable Beach in New Providence, there is a
brand new development by Bahamar and they expect that some 8000
permanent jobs will be created once the facility gets up and running.
Where will we get the manpower?
The Government will be working frantically to be
able to train the people at home to fill the jobs but it may be possible
for those with Bahamian roots who live in this country to look toward
working in The Bahamas. We will need all the help that can be provided.
I want you to know that we in The Bahamas and The
Bahamas government have a special interest in the well being of the
Bahamian community in South Florida. I want you to know that over the
coming year, a new passport will be introduced which will be machine
readable and replace the existing handwritten passport. This will be a
more secure document.
Further, the Consul General will be assisted by
the appointment of Michael Young, a Bahamian who lives in Atlanta,
Georgia, as Honorary Consul for the state of Georgia.
In New York, we are looking toward assisting the
Bahamian community there to protect a valuable piece of property bought
by our forefathers in the Harlem area. That is one of the projects that
Consul General Ed Bethel is working on.
It is also my view that we in Miami ought to start
the search for proper permanent premises for the Consul General’s
office and a proper permanent residence for the occupier of that office.
This is the largest Bahamian community abroad and I believe that it is
important for us to have a permanent presence here that reflects the
size and importance of the Bahamian community here in Florida.
So as we celebrate our life here, celebrate our
culture at home, and remember the sacrifices that our forefathers and
foremothers made, let us thank Almighty God for all that he has done.
Let us pray for good life and continued success for our country and our
countrymen wherever they might be.
I thank you once again Pastor Dave Ellis and your
church members for inviting me to visit with you here. You are doing
well and we are all proud of you.
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