SEMINAR ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS
FREEPORT

13th October 2005

I wish to thank Assistant Commissioner Greenslade for kindly inviting me to conduct this interface with law enforcement officers of the northern Bahamas on the question of Foreign Affairs and The Bahamas.
When I took office, it was made clear that building on our party’s platform we wanted to increase the profile of The Bahamas in foreign affairs, and as part of that remit, we had to interface more positively and aggressively with the Bahamian public at large.  I told the staff at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that my view was that the Ministry would not get the resources that it needs unless the Bahamian public could buy into what it was the Ministry was doing and believed in what we were doing.

Our role is to smooth the passage of Bahamians wherever they go in the world.  If we succeed at the most basic level, wherever in the world a Bahamian goes, he or she should have smooth passage, because other countries know the country and know the country’s reputation is a good one.  This means everything from promoting trade with the Bahamas, so that the business opportunities for our people improve, to ensuring that there is hassle free access to other countries. We have a long way to go but we have accomplished much in the few short years in office.

This programme this morning then is in pursuance of that part of our mission, the interface with the Bahamian people so that they can buy into our message.

The Ministry made a decision, the Government and Prime Minister supported the decision to have an increasing interface with Grand Bahama and the other islands of the archipelago. I had a very intense discussion with a public servant over the last few days about the nature of our country and why the senior public servants could not be content to sit in Nassau with the view that all roads lead there.  The country is a nation of islands, and the centre must come out to the parts and speak with and interact with those who live outside the capital.  It helps to build us as a country.

Law enforcement officers, the public service generally are key to that mission.  You help bind the country together.  You need only recall that the country has only been a nation, with its present identity since 1973.  We are still forging and building our sense of ourselves.  We are held together not by military force, or by financial inducements, we are held together by the consent of the governed.  In other words, wherever you go in the archipelago, the people of The Bahamas voluntarily see Nassau as their capital and each of our islands as part of the greater whole.  These are the cultural ties that bind us, and the cultural ties must be constantly reinforced by the interactions with each other.  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a part of that philosophy.

In pursuance of that, we have held two major international meetings here, the Foreign Minister's Conference of Caricom which took place in the middle of a fierce debate over the country’s relationship with the Caribbean.  The second was the meeting held last month with the South African Foreign Minister and her team which we think will lead to increased trade opportunities for Freeport.

In that connection, I would like to announce that the Minister for National Insurance has advanced plans for the construction of a major new building here in Freeport.  Within that building we have requested space for an expanded passport office and for an office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I believe that this city has grown to the point, and its future growth clearly points toward, a Deputy Chief of Protocol for Freeport with an officer to assist.  There is a need for a protocol lounge in Freeport airport.  There is the need for a secure facility so that if our friends the American want to conduct interviews for the granting visas they can have such a facility.  There is also a need for expanded facilities for passports, particularly given the fact that machine readable passports will be issued out of Freeport when the passports begin to be issued sometime next \year.

It would seem to me that there is a need to be safe cars parked here for the exclusive use of foreign visitors and for public officials including the Prime Minister, the Governor General and the Deputy Prime Minister.  There ought to be the founding of an honorary consular corp to deal with the needs of foreign visitors including those from the United States of America.

Traveling with me this morning is Rhoda Jackson, the First Assistant Secretary of the Ministry in the International Relations Division.  She has within the past year returned from a long service in the United Nations, where she served the country well.  I have asked her to deal with some of the subsets within the Ministry for your further edification.

I hope that we can have a lively and interesting dialogue this morning, as we together plan the future of The Bahamas and more particularly this island. I invite you to read about the Ministry and its work on mfabahamas.org.

Thank you very much indeed.