Bahamian Minister for Financial Services and Investments, Allyson Maynard Gibson, told a Trades Union Congress seminar on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) on Monday about ongoing negotiations which may take the Bahamas into the FTAA as part of CARICOM.
The FTAA negotiations cover 34 countries with a population of 800 million and a combined GDP of US$10 trillion. It had been agreed in 1994 that negotiations would be concluded in 2002. The Minister emphasized that the Bahamas reserved the right to act on its own behalf if its interests diverged from those of CARICOM, and she also confirmed that: 'No binding commitments or agreement of any kind will be made in relation to either the WTO or the FTAA without prior consultation with the honourable House (Parliament) and with the Bahamian peopleļ¾.
Ms Gibson said that her Ministry had responsibility, inter alia, for inward foreign investment and 'as such I am particularly interested in the progress of the negotiating group on investments and services. I am advised that the mandate of the negotiating group on investments is to develop the investment chapter of the FTAA.'
The group, after some three rounds of negotiations and eighteen meetings had prepared a heavily bracketed text for the investment chapter. 'This text includes all possible scenarios and negotiation will be required to remove the brackets. I understand the draft chapter covers topics such as: basic definitions, national treatment, most-favoured nation treatment, fair and equitable treatment, expropriation and compensation, compensation for losses, key personnel, transfers, performance requirements, general exceptions and reservation and dispute settlement.,' said the Minister.
Ms Gibson described the Ministry's investment goals, including time-share developments, sports fishing, real estate development on some particular islands, e-commerce and the encouragement of light industrial and agro-fisheries enterprises. She encouraged the TUC to invest in these areas.
The Minister said that entry to the FTAA would raise the question of whether or not the present investment policy of reserving certain sectors of the economy for Bahamians may continue. She said: 'I would like to flag that there are Bahamians who feel that the policy inhibits them either from expanding their ventures or from become entrepreneurs.'
'Ladies and gentlemen,' concluded Ms Gibson, 'the FTAA is one of the most significant economic events with which we will have to deal in this century. We shall continue to consult on the issues involved and we thank the Chamber of Commerce, The TUC and the Christian Council for all of their efforts in enabling and facilitating consultation.
'If there is one message that I would like to leave with you today, especially with our young COB students, it is that we are country of well educated people; we lead in the tourism sector and in financial services. We need to evaluate carefully the opportunities available in the FTAA that comprises almost 800 million people and provides a multi trillion dollar market. I encourage you to continue to inform yourselves about opportunities arising from the FTAA.'
