ON PREPARING FOR CHANGES IN FOREIGN TRADE RELATIONS

BAHAMAS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE WEEK LUNCHEON

14th May 2003
 

 I want to say how honoured I am to have been asked to speak with you today.  I said at the joint press conference earlier this week when we announced the visit of the CARICOM private sector team that The Bahamas has to plan for where it is going to be ten years from now.

 We are here today because people planned for us to be here.  My parents, your parents and all parents invested in our education, training and learning because at some point they hoped that we would be able to assist our respective societies in their development.  Today it is our time at the plate, to ensure the survival of the societies in which we live.

 Joining us at the joint press conference on Monday was Philip Simon who is now the Executive Director of the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce.  I remember him from his days as a schoolboy. And he invested time and money to prepare himself to be where he is today, and The Bahamas is justifiably proud of his accomplishments.  The same can be said for Keith Glinton who is Second Vice President of the Chamber and the head of Exxon’s interests in The Bahamas.

 I read this morning the comments of Owen Bethel, one of my contemporaries, who is one of the most articulate and eloquent spokesmen for economic change and development that this country has produced.  And as I read his address, I thought of his admonition.  He was addressing a subject that is at the centre of my thinking today as a leader of this country trying to prepare the society for where it ought to be ten to twenty years from now.  It is at the center of the Government’s thinking.  It is at the heart of the programme of our Prime Minister, Perry Christie.  That is, the question of planning for the future.

  Just before coming here, I met with the Inter-American Development Bank on the question of public sector reform, which may require an investment of some one million dollars to get to where we want to be.  The Government will no doubt be criticized for investing in something that bears, today, no tangible evidence of change; but as sure as one and one are two, the investment if made, will within ten years transform the way the Government provides services to the Bahamian people.

 Whether we like it or not, powerful forces in the world are at work, powerful intellectual influences are at work that are reshaping the world around us.  It is reshaping us in subtle and not so subtle ways.  The very education of the young men that I spoke about, Messrs. Glinton and Simon, and the countless other men and women of their generation and those after them, has brought back to The Bahamas new ideas and a new style of doing things.  The present way of doing business is not acceptable, and will not fit with their intellectual acuity. And so, change has come knocking.

 It is the role of the Government to facilitate that change.   When I was an opposition member, I used to observe that, very often, successive Governments of The Bahamas, and I dare say that this is so in other societies, find themselves in the position of being the agent that restrains change, rather than the agent promoting change.  With regard to the changes that are expected to come in our foreign trade relations as a country and a region, it must be the role of Government to prepare the country for what is to come.

 I have already mentioned one area in which I am involved as a Minister, that of public sector reform.  And when I say reform, I borrow from Professor Charles Cambridge of the University of California, a Guyanese national who advises the Government on reform matters. He says public sector reform is to lay the infrastructure, both social and physical, to ensure that the public sector creates jobs in the private sector.

 And so, ladies and gentlemen, the main role of Government must be to create jobs for the country, to expand the economy, even as it adheres to the task of keeping peace and good order. I am asking for a cultural shift in the country about this fact.

 The trade union leaders, the leaders of civil society generally, including the church, will have to face demands for the more efficient use of time, the changing of the kind of public ceremonies that we have and the time it takes to execute them and public business generally.  It will also require in the public service more flexible work rules, and already discussions have begun on what we can do to move that process along.

 The question of how we pay for all the changes is paramount, and for all of our societies in the Caribbean, we must face changes in our systems of taxation.  The IMF has told the Government that in The Bahamas there is a lack of appreciation for paying taxes, and in their surveys they found that most people said they simply did not pay the taxes because they could see no connection between the payment of their taxes and an improvement in their daily lives.

 In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is charged with the responsibility for defending the country’s interest abroad, I have asked for this cultural shift to be evidenced by an acceptance of all staff that the public has a right to know what we do and must be informed of what we do.  In this connection, a web site is being built and the infrastructure for connectivity electronically is being enhanced.    In other words, the Ministry and all Ministries must be sensitive to the external environment.  By keeping the public informed about what we do, we can get the resources from the taxes of the public to continue our work for the country.

 When we talk about reform in the public sector, many people talk only about the training and reform of the professional or technical level of the public service.  But I bring this observation to the business of the Government: we need to invest in the training of politicians.  Politicians make the ultimate decisions.  These decisions can harm an economy irreparably, as we see in many countries around the world.  And when politicians are unable to make timely decisions, or do not understand the nature of decision-making and the issues involved, progress is retarded.  And so, you will see that Perry Christie, as he shapes and fashions the Government, has chosen to look far into the future to effect change in the political landscape, by identifying persons who want politics as a career and who are trainable and will train themselves for the job.  The politician cannot fall behind the professional staff in their knowledge and understanding of issues.  I daresay our Opposition leaders have made a similar commitment themselves.

 CARICOM is clearly important to The Bahamas.  Just this week, we have this initiative for the private sector.  The Caribbean Single Market and Economy will mean significant trade enhancement and opportunities.  So will the FTAA.  We must try to see how we can enhance the Caribbean by these proposed changes in our way of life and doing business as opposed to closing our minds to change.

  CARICOM statisticians met earlier in the week to see how we can improve our information base and systems to enhance the opportunities for social change in our societies.  Caribbean Foreign Ministers met last week to see how foreign relations can improve our way of life in this hemisphere and the world.  And tomorrow, I travel to Bermuda, another dynamic society, that has decided to formally join CARICOM in July, to talk with their Premier, and Leaders of Civil Society about how we can work together to enhance the lives of our people in the region.

 I believe that this is the single most important public policy task in the Caribbean today, the changing of our societies to be able to expand wealth and work opportunities for our people, so that our lives will be intellectually fulfilled and we can feed all of our sons and daughters.

 I thank you all for listening so attentively.  I wish you every success in all your deliberations.