Xiamen, China:
Over the last week, while on a Media familiarization visit to this vast and productive rising superpower in Asia, it became crystal clear that The Bahamas and the rest of the Caribbean must be better organized and focused on matters of foreign direct investment.
Along with colleagues like Keith Smith, Editor in chief of the Trinidad Express, Dominic Kalipersad, Editor of the Trinidad Guardian and Roxanne Gibbs, Executive Editor of The Advocate in Barbados, among 20 media professionals, we collectively expressed disappointment on the lack of preparedness by Caribbean countries at the 7th China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT).
The booth of my country, The Bahamas, ashamed me. To begin with, the word “Bahamas” was mis-spelt as “Banamas”. Photographs of the economic development of the country supplied to the Chinese organizers were old and irrelevant to the project. We simply missed an opportunity to promote the country to thousands of Asian business leaders who gathered seeking venues for investment and trade.
The only representative of The Bahamas at the booth was the Chief Financial Officer of Paradise Fisheries Limited. He was apologizing for only bringing 200 brochures of his company and their product, which were taken away by eager prospective customers in less than 20 minutes. The official Bahamian government representative at the event, Philip Miller, Under Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stood beside me in awe.
CIFIT is sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce with assistance from United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) and organized by Fujir Provincial Government and Xiamen Municipal Government. Enterprises and relevant governmental departments from 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China, as well as industrial and financial companies and government investment promotion organizations from over 30 countries and region participated to introduce their investment environments and projects.
It would have been better for The Bahamas to have stayed away instead of offering a poor display. Despite the many announcements and pronouncements at home about foreign investments to come, it is evident that there is no well-coordinated programme or strategy to attract investment to The Bahamas. We are not getting foreign investors due to the quality of our promotional efforts, but inspite of the lack or shoddy handling of them.
What excuse should we now expect from the Minister of Financial Services and Investments, Allyson Gibson, or the Minister of Trade and Industry, Leslie Miller? Perhaps they need not offer any, as Prime Minister Perry Christie should take full responsibility when The Bahamas is so poorly represented in international affairs.
If Mr. Christie is unaware, he should know that since 1997, CIFIT has held six sessions and 12,350 investment and cooperation projects have been signed with contract investment value of about $70 billion U.S. dollars. Each year, over 50,000 overseas foreign guests and exhibiters take part in this event, and global famous enterprises attend this event and display their products. In the Overseas Investment Promotion Agencies Exhibition Quarter there were the Sweden Investment Promotion Agency, Singapore Chamber of Commerce, Denmark Investment Promotion Bureau, among others, including the governments of Barbados, Trinidad and Jamaica.
In order to make itself a more useful tool for potential foreign investors to find their opportunities and partners in the shortest time, this year’s CIFIT presented two sessions of the Match-making Symposium for Foreign Investment projects.
These sessions were excellent opportunities for Bahamian representatives to promote The Bahamas as a great market for souvenir clothing and other memorabilia, given the fact that The Bahamas is a major tourist destination in the Caribbean. It is estimated that the value of handicraft sold in The Bahamas to tourists yearly is in the region of $300 million. And as most of this is imported from China, a representative should have been there to explore opportunities for the Bahamian private sector.
In her speech at the Matching Forum for Caribbean Countries on what was declared “Caribbean Day”, Vice Premier of the People’s Republic of China, Madam Wu Yi, says China is interested in deepening economic and trade exchanges with the eight countries in the Caribbean which have established diplomatic relations. She expressed the belief that “more Chinese businessmen will understand the investment environment of countries represented here, and with that knowledge, they will soon join others to make economic and trade tours, and eventually make investment in the Caribbean region.” We expressed the hope that our government will get its act together, become better organized in promoting The Bahamas in all respects and take full advantage of next year’s CIFIT.
By Wendall Jones, Insight, The Bahama Journal
