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REMARKS BY THE HON.
FRED MITCHELL MP
MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
AND THE PUBLIC SERVICE
ANNUAL HONORARY CONSULAR CORPS CHRISTMAS LUNCHEON
Monday 5th December 2005
I am again honoured to be with you today for the annual luncheon of
the Honorary Consular Corps
. It is hard to believe that yet another year has gone by; and much
has happened since I last spoke to you. This is a useful time to review
events of importance in our foreign affairs during the past year.
Suffice it to say, things are well with the country and our
international partners. I want to thank all those who are part of the
diplomatic corps here in The Bahamas for their work in seeking to ensure
that the mutual and discrete goals of our countries were advanced during
the year.
The resident corps is not a large one and includes the United States
of America; the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Haiti and
during the year, the Republic of Cuba upgraded its presence in The
Bahamas to a full fledged embassy. It is my honour to congratulate Felix
Wilson on becoming his country’s first Ambassador to The Bahamas. In
connection with Cuba, it is my honour to announce that our embassy
should be opening in Havana in the first week in January 2006.
During the year, we accepted with regret the departure and closure of
the British High Commission in The Bahamas. The Prime Minister made
representations to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, just last
month, during his stop in London and at their subsequent meeting in
Malta. In the mean time, discussions with Lord Triesman, the
Parliamentary Under Secretary in the Foreign Office may lead to some
interim measures to ease the difficulties faced by students seeking to
get British visas to enter the United Kingdom for school next year.
Last year, I indicated that The Bahamas was very concerned about the
fact that visas for entry into the Schengen agreement countries are not
available for issuance in The Bahamas. This continues to be a sore
point. At a recent visit by the Deputy Foreign Minister of Spain, we
raised the subject again as we have with all European delegations that
come calling. To our surprise, he said that this was a matter about
which Spain was unaware. He promised to investigate the matter. What it
means is that notwithstanding our enquiries, entreaties and protests
about this matter and the inconvenience to our citizens, there has not
been the requisite response to it. Let us hope that our work over the
next year will see some improvement in this situation. Ideally, it
should lead to one of your number being able to issue the Schengen visas
in The Bahamas.
Relations between our largest trading partner and closest neighbour
and ourselves continue to be good. I wish to thank the United States
Ambassador for all of his work. Planning is proceeding for a visit by
the Secretary of State of his country to The Bahamas for a conference of
CARICOM Ministers in the first quarter of next year. Freeport is to be
designated a port for customs pre-clearance by the United States which
will considerably enhance the value of the port in international trade.
The work of the Operation Bahamas Turks and Caicos Islands continues.
OPBAT is a success story. The Bahamas will be proposing in the early
part of 2006 a more formal relationship between The Bahamas and the
United States with regard to the interdiction of illegal migrants on the
high seas. I wish to thank the United States Government for all the
assistance rendered to the country during Hurricane Wilma and for the
ongoing assistance for recovery from Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne.
The Bahamas assumed the chair of the CARICOM Council for Foreign and
Community Relations (COFCOR) in June 2005 and hosted the Eighth Meeting
in Freeport, Grand Bahama. The CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME),
Haiti and UN Security Council Reform were among the issues addressed.
The Bahamas’ intention to join the CSME was raised during an informal
Forum between the CARICOM Secretary General and the Civil Society which
was organized at the close of the Community Council meeting.
The First Session of the Bahamas - South Africa Joint Bilateral
Commission was held in Freeport, Grand Bahama, on 23rd and 24th
September 2005. The South African delegation was led by the Minister of
Foreign of Affairs of South Africa and the Bahamian delegation was first
led by Vincent Peet, Minister of Labour and Immigration as Acting
Minister of Foreign Affairs and later by myself, upon my return from New
York. We were joined by Alfred Sears, Minister of Education and Attorney
General of The Bahamas. The Commission examined areas of bilateral
co-operation in Education, Culture, Health, Agriculture, Tourism,
Foreign Affairs and Trade and Industry.
I had the honour last night of welcoming a distinguished visitor from
the People’s Republic of China. At that meeting, it was revealed that
trade between our two countries has now reached the level of 120 million
dollars U.S. annually. This is significant. With The Bahamas listed as a
designated tourist designation that trade is likely to increase. We are
working toward opening an embassy in Beijing in the early part of the
New Year. The Bahamas has agreed to purchase from China, two
high-powered scanning machines for cargo at our ports. This is a
significant purchase and we look forward to the installation of the
equipment in the New Year. Construction on a new state-of-the-art
stadium that will cost some 30 million dollars, paid for by the People’s
Republic of China, is expected to begin in the first quarter of the New
Year.
The Bahamas has been involved in the struggle toward free and fair
elections in Haiti. Considerable sums have been invested in achieving a
fair and democratic process in Haiti. We all agree that stability in
Haiti will enhance the stability of our country. The elections are now
to be held on 8th January. At a recent CARICOM/African Union
meeting in Malta between the Presidents of South Africa and Nigeria and
the CARICOM Prime Ministers and Presidents it was agreed that there be a
joint fact-finding mission to Haiti before Christmas, with a view to
seeing how the two organizations can assist. The Bahamas is likely to be
part of that delegation.
Tomorrow I leave The Bahamas for Barbados for the annual Cuba/CARICOM
summit. The Prime Minister is expected to travel there on Wednesday. The
summit will see the Prime Ministers and Presidents of the region meeting
with the President of Cuba. We are expected to return to The Bahamas on
Friday. Cuba has started an important initiative throughout the region
where its medical expertise is lent to restoring the sight to the
sightless in the region.
The Bahamas established diplomatic relations with a number of
countries during 2005. They are:
Latvia - January
Egypt - February
Pakistan - February
Hungary - April
Czech Republic June
Sri Lanka - July
Lithuania - August
Ghana - September
Mozambique - September
Estonia - October
I wish to thank the Permanent Secretary, and staff of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs for their work during the year. I wish to congratulate
our diplomats across the world for their good work. In particular,
Ambassador Joshua Sears in Washington for his work in assisting the
Attorney General and the Minister of Financial Services and Investment
in the removal of The Bahamas from the blacklist of the Financial Action
Task Force which was accomplished in October of this year. I thank also
High Commissioner Basil O’Brien for the recent success in the
re-election of The Bahamas at the International Maritime Organization in
London.
Thanks go out also to Ambassador Eugene Newry, who is now
non-resident Ambassador to Haiti, for his work in concluding the
agreement between the Haitian state telephone company and The Bahamas
Telecommunications Company Ltd., which should see improved fibre optic
links between the two countries by June of next year, bringing both
improved service and cheaper rates.
Ambassador Newry is expected to get a new assignment in the New Year.
My personal thanks and that of the Government go out to Ambassador
Leonard Archer for his unstinting, public support of the Government’s
policies and programmes during the national debate on the Caricom Single
Market and Economy (CSME). Mr. Archer and the Trade and Economic Affairs
Division of the Ministry, headed by Under Secretary Philip Miller, went
over and beyond the call of duty in what was ultimately an unsuccessful
campaign. But I thank them for all of their work and personal
dedication.
High Commissioner Philip Smith from Canada is heading this week a
CARICOM observer Mission to St. Vincent where general elections are
taking place on the 9th December. Again this demonstrates
that our diplomatic corps overseas has the kind expertise which is in
demand throughout the region.
Ambassador Paulette Bethel continues her dedicated work in New York,
and was instrumental in helping The Bahamas keep abreast of the issues
relating to Haiti and to Security Council reform.
I am particularly pleased to congratulate the two Consuls General,
Alma Adams in Miami and Ed Bethel in New York for their work,
particularly in organizing sustained and meaningful contacts with the
Bahamian Diaspora in the United States.
Next year is our final year in office for this term so that if an
election has not happened by this time next year, we will probably be
within the pre-election period.
It is never easy to predict what will be issues of relevance for a
campaign but I think that we will be able to say next year this time, if
all goes well that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has served the
Government and the people of The Bahamas well over the past four years
and that most if not all of our objectives would have been accomplished.
We think that we are close to choosing a vendor for the
machine-readable passports which will also provide a more secure visa
document for The Bahamas. You will have noticed the debate about the
issuance of visas in The Bahamas. Last week, I made a comprehensive
statement about the matter in the House of Assembly. At that time, the
Leader of the Opposition disassociated himself from the allegations of
one of his Senators who first raised the matter in public, so it appears
that the issue is not one presented on behalf of the Official
Opposition.
Nevertheless, it is clear that reform of the visa issuing process
will be beneficial. In fact as our public statements have made clear,
there has been an ongoing review of this process since I came to office.
While it is easy to make allegations and cause a swirl of rumours, the
police and the Ministry need to act on hard facts. I again invite all
those who are aware of any specific impropriety to visit the police at
the earliest opportunity. This ongoing review of the visa issuing
process has already produced a number of reforms which have now been
implemented. For the first time, there is a security clearance officer
who vets all visa applications. There is also a restriction on the use
of brokers or agents for visas. I have sought also to isolate myself
from visa decisions on a day to day basis so that we can have a
transparent process. We have some ways to go. I am presently studying
the report of the Chairman of the Public Service Commission and the
Auditor General's report on the matter.
There is likely to be assistance provided by the Commonwealth Fund
for Technical Cooperation to revamp our procedures, and to put the
issuance of visas on a statutory and regulatory basis. The present ad
hoc systems do not serve a modern country well.
So once again, I thank you for inviting me to this luncheon. I am
glad I am able to be here this year. I thank you for organizing this,
for all of your work in The Bahamas on behalf of your countries and I
wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year. Please
convey those sentiments to your Ambassadors and to your respective
capitals.
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