Chamber of Commerce President Raymond Winder challenged the Bahamian business community to respond to international challenges and become more competitive.
Mr. Winder was speaking at a press conference held at the Chamber of Commerce to announce plans for the 33rd annual Chamber of Commerce Week.
As a part of its weeklong celebrations, the Chamber will hold a number of events, including a corporate spelling bee, an awards banquet and discussions with a CARICOM private sector team in a three-day mission to The Bahamas.
Mr. Winder said most CARICOM countries are ahead of The Bahamas when it comes to dealing with issues that arise from being a part of global trading groups.
“I would say that most of the other Caribbean countries have a head start on The Bahamas because all of them have been a part of [World Trade Organization],” he said. “As you know The Bahamas is still not a part of WTO.”
Mr. Winder said a part of the discussions with the CARICOM delegation will focus on some of the problems and concerns the CARICOM countries experience when they became members of the WTO.
He said the discussions are expected to help The Bahamas avoid some of those problems if it decides to become a part of any global trading group.
Lemuel Sweeting, president of the Bahamas Golden Pages and winner of the Developing Entrepreneur of the Year Award, said he is pleased with his involvement with the Chamber of Commerce because “the Chamber carries the banner for private businesses throughout The Bahamas.” Mr. Sweeting added that the Chamber is “embarking upon a new paradigm, turning over from an old Chamber to a new Chamber to give the public a different view of the Chamber and to try to get more and more private businesses involved.”
The Chamber of Commerce Week will conclude with a luncheon on Wednesday in which Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell will be the guest speaker, a corporate spelling bee on Thursday and the awards banquet on Saturday night at which time Minister of State for Finance James Smith will be the keynote speaker.
By Darrin Culmer, The Bahama Journal
