BAHAMAS ATTENDS MEETINGS IN SPAIN AND AUSTRIA



The third Spain/Caricom Summit ended in Madrid at midday Wednesday 10th May. Foreign Minister Hon. Fred Mitchell represented The Bahamas as head of delegation at the request of the Prime Minister. 

Mr. Mitchell said that all Caricom delegations believed that the meeting went well. He said that there has been a significant increase in the Spanish economy in the last 20 years as result of their entry into the European Union. They are now the eighth largest economy in the world and a significant investor in the Caribbean region, particularly in tourism. In the English speaking Caribbean Spanish investors have hotel properties. The same RIU Group of Spain that owns hotels in Jamaica owns the former Grand Hotel on Paradise Island. The Spanish Prime Minister said that Spain was hoping that an investment protection treaty could be negotiated between Caricom and Spain. 


On a bilateral basis, the Foreign Minister thanked Spain for the $50,000 US donation to the hurricane relief effort. The gift was given following the experience of the Minister of State of Spain in the Foreign Ministry in The Bahamas last year on the eve of the arrival of Hurricane Wilma. Minister Mitchell also raised with the Prime Minister of Spain a message from the Bahamian Prime Minister on Spain’s assistance for access to Schengen visas. Schengen visas are the visas required to get into Continental Europe. There is no issuing office for the visas in The Bahamas and Bahamian businessmen, students and the Bahamian tourist community complain about the difficulty in getting them. The Spanish Government is circulating a plan to open an EU consular office in Nassau to deal with the requests for Schengen visas. 

The Minister is now in Vienna, Austria for the start of the European Union/ Latin American and Caribbean Heads of Government meeting which begins tomorrow 12th May. The Prime Minister has again asked the Foreign Minister to head the delegation. The Bahamas has been asked to be the lead speaker on the Environment and Disaster Preparedness.

The Spanish meeting was the second meeting of Caricom leaders with a European Union nation prior to the EU/LAC Summit. The biennial UK/Caricom meeting concluded in Barbados last month.

The Caribbean region is seeking to create more direct relations with countries in the EU, given that its traditional partner Britain seems to be moving its focus toward Europe. Europe is now the largest donor of development assistance in the world. The Bahamas is pledged to receive some 9 million euros of development assistance in the next fiscal year.

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Ministry of Foreign Affairs

11th May, 2006