NASSAU, The Bahamas – Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham, is leading a high-level delegation on an investment promotion mission to Canada. He made the announcement during a press conference at the Cabinet Office on Friday, March 25, 2011. He left the country on Saturday.
“I will be using my visit to Canada for the Annual Meetings of the Inter-American Development Bank to lead a trade and investment promotion mission while in Canada. The mission will include stops in Western and Eastern Canada,” the Prime Minister said.
He will be joined by Senator John Delaney, Attorney General; Senator Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, Minister of Tourism, the Hon. Zhivargo Laing, Minister of State for Finance, who will attend the IDB meeting. Senator Delaney holds the portfolio for the promotion of the financial services sector while the Ministry of Finance is responsible for the regulation of the sector, and the negotiation and implementation of Tax Information Exchange Agreements.
The trade mission to Canada also includes officials from the Office of the Prime Minister/Bahamas Investment Authority (BIA), Ministry of Tourism, The Bahamas Maritime Authority, members of the Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB), the Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD), Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board, the Out Island Promotion Board, the Bahamas Real Estate Association, the Grand Bahama Port Authority, BORCO, bankers, lawyers and hoteliers.
The BFSB will host financial services and international business seminars in Calgary and Toronto. The seminar in Calgary – the largest city in the province of Alberta in Western Canada, will be followed by a luncheon meeting at the Calgary Petroleum Club, during which Government and private sector presentations will be made on business opportunities in The Bahamas.
In Toronto, the Royal Bank of Canada and Scotia Bank will jointly sponsor a luncheon meeting at the Toronto Board of Trade where The Bahamas will have an opportunity to make government and private sector presentations to interested persons of note in Canadian business and commerce. While in Calgary, the Prime Minister will be interviewed by The Globe and Mail newspaper for an article scheduled for publication in their national newspaper.
In Toronto, he is also scheduled to be interviewed by the Sun News Network for a programmed to be aired in April and by the Business News Network for an interview that will air on Wednesday, March 30 at 12 noon and a repeat at 6 p.m. At the press conference, the Prime Minister also revealed the promotional material, which the BIA will be taking to Canada. The main piece is an updated edition of the promotion booklet –
“The Bahamas – A Paradise for Many Reasons”. Additionally, there are three individual flyers – one each for Tourism, Financial Services and Grand Bahama.
“You should note that when these documents were first developed in 1994/95 they were produced overseas. These new and updated versions have been produced in their entirety in The Bahamas,” he said.
The revisions to the text, taking into account new development in the economy, new infrastructural developments, new legislation enacted, and new and additional overseas offices of the Government were all done by the officers of the Bahamas Investment Authority.
The photos were provided by Bahamas Information Services (BIS), the Ministry of Tourism as well as by a number of private banks and trust companies and other private sector companies. The Prime Minister said he was pleased that the books have been printed in-house by the Government Printing Department – from cover to cover. And, he told them not to be so modest as they have been this time.
“In the future I expect them to place on this document ‘Printed by Government Printing Department’” he said.
By Lindsay Thompson
Bahamas Information Services
