The Bahamas has been urged to liberalise its immigration policy and help “stabilise” the financial services industry by allowing in top lawyers accountants and other rofessionals with the expertise and global contacts to take the sector to the highest level.
Brian Moree, senior partner at McKinney, Bancroft and Hughes, in an interview with The Tribune, stressed he was not advocating that The Bahamas completelyopen its borders to foreign workers who would put Bahamians out of work, but that the nation had to realise it was a small country that would be unable to completely meet its labour needs from within its talent pool.
“If we allow ourselves to suffer from xenophobia and pretend we can provide for all our needs from within our own borders, we are sadly disillusioned and will be unable to stay competitive,” Mr. Moree said.
He explained that the world’s major industrialised nations such as the US and UK, utilised overseas workers in “certain target areas” and said that the Government should be able to develop a balanced, staged and carefully structured immigration policy that ensured the financial services industry’s labour requirements without competing directly with Bahamian jobs.
“I think this balance can be struck by the appropriate authorities in a way that creates a win-win solution for everyone,” Mr. Moree said, stressing he was speaking personally.
“I see it as a means of supplementing our skills, not replacing our skills”
Mr. Moree explained that most of the world’s business was gained through contacts and networking, and in attracting top financial industry workers, The Bahamas would gain both their expertise and contacts in the international financial and business community, which “must be utilised to develop the jurisdiction”.
By Neil Hartnell, The Tribune
