WHAT BRAVE DAVIS ACTUALLY SAID ABOUT FREEPORT
(Editor’s Note: The Free National Movement’s MPs in the House of Assembly claimed that the Prime Minister said that investors have no confidence in Grand Bahama. Here is what he actually said at his press conference on 31 January 2022 in Grand Bahama)
As reported in the Nassau Guardian 1 February 2022
“I think part of the challenge you have – and that’s why I say talk is cheap – the challenge has been that the investors’ confidence has waned over the many years and we have been in our movements seeking to restore that confidence. I can say investor confidence in The Bahamas is rising exponentially, I mean the interest in The Bahamas today is really growing and continues to grow. But for Grand Bahama, there is always this sort of question mark. And why is there that question mark, if they are willing to invest in The Bahamas? When we ask them if they’d like to come to Grand Bahama, there is always some reluctance on their part…
“I had a conversation in Dubai, for example, persons even came to Grand Bahama to look at projects and their desire to invest just withered because it just didn’t connect to them. Hopefully, I’ve been talking to them, they might find that something that might cause them to reconnect and revisit their vision and desire to invest again. But we are working on how we can restore fully the confidence of investors to invest in Grand Bahama…
“I think Grand Bahama is ideally suited for a mixed economy in the context of tourism, agriculture and industrial. I think they can coexist together. We just need someone with the vision, the wherewithal and the leadership to make it happen…
“So, I will not just put my eggs in one basket and say let’s make it a tourism destination, or let’s make it an industrial, or a tech hub – which is one of the industries we looked at coming here because of the emerging markets in technology – so, I’m not led to one particular market to brand Grand Bahama. Tourism is one that as we all know will continue to be with us.”