COMMUNICATION TO THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY BY HON. FRED MITCHELL, FOX HILL MP MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND IMMIGRATION Wednesday, January 14, 2015 Mr. Speaker, On the 1st of January, 2015, the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas became the Chair of the Caribbean Community of Nations called CARICOM. This is a signal honour for our country. The Chairmanship means that for the next six month the principal spokesman for the 15 member group of nations will be the Prime Minister of The Bahamas. Our Prime Minister will be expected to present the views of CARICOM states to the world and to Chair its meetings. One of the first duties that this occasioned was the statement made by the Prime Minister on behalf of CARICOM at the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and China held on 8th and 9th January in Beijing, China. The Prime Minister has two further duties in the short term that of attending and speaking on behalf of CARICOM at the meeting between US Vice-President Joseph Biden in Washington, DC, on 26th January on energy matters. He will also attend the CELAC Summit on the 28th and 29th January in San Jose, Costa Rica, in the same capacity. The Bahamas will be the host of the Intersessional Meeting of Heads of Government of CARICOM on the 26th and 27th of February in Nassau at the Meliá Cable Beach Hotel. During that meeting, the Prime Minister will be seeking the support of Member-States for a special initiative on human development for the region including investment in young people particularly through sports and culture and with a view to addressing joblessness and despair in the region amongst young people. Mr. Speaker, I now report on the recent trip by a delegation of The Bahamas to the People’s Republic of China. There were two components to the trip: the principal reason that took The Bahamas to China was for our participation in the First Ministerial Forum of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the People’s Republic of China in Beijing on 8th-9th January, 2015; the second and equally important reason was to take advantage of the presence in China of the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, to conduct high-level bilateral talks with the Chinese President, Mr. XI Jinping, and the Chinese Premier, Mr. LI Keqiang (pronounced lee-kay-tchee-ung), as well as with Chinese leaders of industry, all to attract their attention to possible business investments on their part in The Bahamas. Mr. Speaker, The Prime Minister and I, along with officers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of The Bahamas in Beijing, China, represented The Bahamas at the CELAC-China Ministerial Forum. With respect to the bilateral talks with Chinese officials and businesspersons that took place in Beijing and Shanghai during and after the Forum, the Hon. Obie Wilchcombe, Minister of Tourism, the Hon. Glenys Hanna-Martin, Minister of Transport and Aviation, Sir Baltron Bethel, Special Political Adviser to the Prime Minister, and other officers in the Office of the Prime Minister joined the Delegation to the CELAC-China Forum. Let me begin with the CELAC-China Forum, which was held last week in Beijing (on 8th-9thJanuary). This First Ministerial Forum provided an avenue for closer overall co-operation between the two sides and for a profound impact on the future development of relations between China and CELAC Member-States. Mr. Speaker, With this Forum, China sends a strong signal of its commitment to strengthening unity and co-ordination in promoting South-South Co-operation. Within the framework of the Forum, China looks forward to increasing its dialogue and co-operation with regional and sub-regional organisations, and ensuring the success of the e-China-Caribbean Economic and Trade Co-operation Forum that will create a comprehensive and well-designed network for overall development. Initial preparations for the contact between the two sides are made through the CELAC Quartet, CELAC’s governing body on which The Bahamas sits. The Bahamas, as Chair of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), became the CARICOM rotating chair on the CELAC Quartet – comprising Costa Rica (present Pro Tempore President), Ecuador (incoming president), Cuba (immediate past president), and The Bahamas for CARICOM. As such, it was pivotal for us to be in China for this important meeting between our Region and one of the major global players. The meeting was preceded by negotiation meetings of National Coordinators of sides to finalise the outcome documents of the Forum, namely, the Beijing Declaration, the Co-operation Plan, and the Institutional Arrangements and Operating Rules. For the information of the Honourable Members of Parliament: • The Beijing Declaration recorded the understanding reached by CELAC-China Ministers on the partnership and co-operation between the two sides, including triennial Ministerial meetings; • The CELAC-China Co-operation Plan 2015-2019 identifies the key areas and specific measures of co-operation between China and the CELAC Region over the next three-year period. These areas include: Political and Security matters; International Affairs; Trade, Investment and Financial matters; Infrastructure and Transportation; Energy and Resources; Agriculture; Industry, Science and Technology; Aviation and Aerospace; Education and Human Resources Training; Cultural and Sports; Press, Media and Publication; Tourism; Environmental Protection; Disaster Reduction; Poverty Alleviation; Health; and the Promotion of People-to-People Friendships; and • The Institutional Arrangements and Operational Rules of the CELAC-China Forum define the platform for intergovernmental co-operation, with its main mechanisms being the Ministerial Meeting (the Dialogue of Foreign Ministers of China and the CELAC Quartet), the Meetings of National Coordinators, the Consultations at the Director-General Level, and Forum meetings in the specific fields mentioned earlier. The first day of the Forum, 8th January, saw the convening of the Opening Session at which the Heads of State and Government of both sides made presentations to launch the Forum. President XI Jinping of China, President Luis Gillermo SOLÍS Rivera of Costa Rica, President of Ecuador Rafael Vicente CORREA Delgado, and Prime Minister Christie gave official remarks at the inaugural event. Let me add, Mr. Speaker, that President Nicolás Ernesto MADURO Guerra of Venezuela, who was on an official visit to China, was extended an opportunity to address the Opening Session, particularly given the important role played by Venezuela in the formation of the CELAC. They all spoke eloquently on the present and possible future relations between China and the CELAC region. Matters presented focused on existing bilateral and regional relations and on win-win co-operation between the two sides to advance significantly the investments of China in the CELAC Region, the internal development and progress of CELAC Member-States from these investments, and the possibility of developing a presence – business and otherwise – by CELAC Member-States in China. The meeting continued over the next two days with mostly Foreign Ministers of China and twenty-nine CELAC Member-States deliberating on matters pertaining to the Forum. At the end of the Forum, the three outcome documents were adopted, marking the beginning of the implementation of the promise for mutual benefits for both sides. It is understood that there are “miles to go before we sleep” with this new initiative. Part of the further co-ordination of these promises from our side (CELAC) will take place during the upcoming III CELAC Summit taking place in San Jose, Costa Rica, on 28th-29th January, 2015. Mr. Speaker, Let me not forget that, in the late evening of the first day of the Forum, a bilateral meeting was held between the Chinese Foreign Minister, Mr. WANG Yi, and all the Foreign Ministers of Caribbean Countries with relations with China (Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago). The discussions during the meeting were focused specifically on matters related to bilateral and Caribbean relations with China, and to CELAC-China relations as they related to the Caribbean. China has become an important source for capital and development assistance in our region with some three billion dollars on offer from China for the region and its development agenda. Mr. Speaker, The commitment of The Bahamas to the CELAC process is measured against the importance of CELAC to The Bahamas. Our participation in the meeting in China and in all the major meetings of CELAC – from the first meetings in 2010 that led to the formation of CELAC in 2012, and the first two Summit meetings in Chile and Cuba – confirms the high importance the Government of The Bahamas places in that institution: • CELAC provides a medium through which priorities of The Bahamas may be addressed among Member-States with similar concerns and experiences, finding solutions within the South-South dialogue process. Examples of this were the presentation of two Bahamian priorities to the II CELAC Summit in Havana, Cuba, in January 2014 (irregular migration and illegal fishing), for which declarations were finalised in conjunction with other CELAC Member-States with similar concerns, and to which updates will be provided to the III CELAC Summit in San Jose, Costa Rica ((i) new immigration policy, new agreements with Haiti (July 2014), dialogues with Haitian, US, Kazakh, and OAS authorities, among others; (ii) new framework agreement signed with the Dominican Republic (July 2014) which will allow further talks on a wide range of bilateral matters and a specific agreement on the subject of normalising fishing arrangements); • CELAC also provides a medium for a large group of developing countries to forge a united front in the face of global challenges (Climate Change, graduation (untimely penalisation for early evidence of domestic economic successes), UN/UNSC reforms); • CELAC provides access to investments to the Latin American and Caribbean Region; and • with all of the above in play, CELAC Member-States would strive to forge a common identity in a multi-polar world, making of CELAC a better partner with which to develop stronger international partnerships. Mr. Speaker, I would now wish to turn to the bilateral visit by the Prime Ministerial Delegation to China, which took place in Beijing and Shanghai from the 7th to the 11th of January, 2015. I mentioned that the Ministers responsible for tourism and transport and aviation were included in the Prime Ministerial Delegation, for reasons of the components of their portfolios directly connected to the business purposes of the visit to China. In Beijing, the visit occasioned high-level meetings with the President of China, XI Jinping, on 7th January, and the Premier of China, Mr LI Keqiang, on 8th January, as well as meetings with businesspersons, including (i) Mr Tan Sri K.T. Lim, Chairman of Genting Resorts World, (ii) representatives of the China Export-Import bank; (iii) representatives of the China Construction Company; (iv) representatives of the CGGC, another major construction company, led by Mr SHI Li; (v) representatives of the China Harbour Company (responsible for the Abaco harbour project); (vi) representatives of Hainan Airlines; and (vii) representatives of the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA). The Prime Minister also met with Mr Sarkis Izmirlian of Baha Mar. It was in that meeting with the China Export-Import Bank that the opening date for the Baha Mar project was confirmed at 27th March of this year. The visit with the President and the Premier reaffirmed Chinas offers of development assistance on concessionary terms and a desire to assist the country generally in its development agenda. It remains for the country to identify projects that can be advanced on those concessional terms. On behalf of The Bahamas, I signed on behalf of The Bahamas Agricultural Marine Science Institute (BAMSI) a Memorandum of Understanding with China Ocean University for co-operation between that university and BAMSI in marine scientific study and observation with the possibility of joint academic programmes. Further, the Minister of Transport and Aviation initialled a Memorandum of Understanding on the agreed terms of an air services agreement which is to be signed between the two countries within a few weeks. This air services agreement will be the key to expanded air service directly between China and The Bahamas and will assist in the support and viability of the tourism product at Baha Mar. Most importantly during the meeting with the President, China declared that in principle it was agreed that The Bahamas can become a centre for the trading of securities and debt settlement in the RMB Yuan currency of the People’s Republic of China, making The Bahamas only the 9th country where this is possible in the world. We believe that once this agreement is finalized and permission granted that this will be a boon for the financial services sector of The Bahamas. The Prime Minister also conducted interviews with the Chinese Press agencies Xinhua (pronounced sheen-who-ah) and CCTV. Mr. Speaker, In Shanghai, the two-day visit on 10th and 11th January provided for calls on: the Mayor of that City, Mr. YANG Xiong (pronounced yahg-she-ong), who, interestingly, had visited Nassau in 2002, before he became Mayor, in Shanghai’s bid to host the World Expo Shanghai 2010; the leadership of United Imaging (specialising in ultra-modern machinery for magnetic resonance imaging, MRI), which wished to change the “Made in China” label to “Invented in China” in terms of innovation in technology; the leadership of the Jinjiang Group headed by CEO Ms. GUO Lijuan (pronounced gwoh-lee-joo-ahn), whose multifaceted company is set to take over the Louvre Hotel Group; and the leadership of China Eastern Airlines which company is affiliated with the Sky Team international aviation alliance. In all of his dealings with the Chinese High Officials and business persons, the Prime Minister proposed the important benefits to both China and The Bahamas in China’s investments in many parts of The Bahamas and that The Bahamas would welcome the consideration by China of the same. Quoting the Prime Minister, “I have come here to talk trade and investment and the expansion of tourism, education, more broadly human development, the expansion in air services, and co-operation in maritime affairs.” The major discussion points included, in no particular order: • interest in having China create direct airlift from China to The Bahamas in view of the fact that The Bahamas is the gateway to the rest of the Caribbean, the construction and development with Chinese support of the Baha Mar Resort in New Providence, the visa waiver agreement signed in 2013, and the new facilities at the Lynden Pindling International Airport, access would be improved and facilitated to many more Chinese tourists and businesspersons alike. The Prime Minister did indicate that The Bahamas was aware of an announcement made that China would establish a direct flight to Havana, Cuba, later this year; • interest in having China invest in taking over the major development left unfinished by Ginn in Grand Bahama, due to the global recession; • possible management of the Baha Mar Resort by a Chinese hotel management company. The Chinese High Officials and business leaders were very receptive to the proposals of The Bahamas and have indicated that they would follow up actively on the same. In my estimation, this visit to China was a resounding success, very fruitful and indicative of the excellent relations existing between The Bahamas and China. The Honourable Members of Parliament will be kept informed of developments. In summary then, Mr Speaker, the official visit to China, which is the second one by this Prime Minister, was a resounding success. The interactions proved fruitful for the development capital which we need for our country. The people-to-people exchanges will enrich the cultural milieu of all of countries. We live in a global village and both countries have much that they can learn from each other, based on mutual respect and with no conditionality. We are, as China would say, in a win/win situation. end
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 21:20:02 +0000
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