Leslie Miller, minister of tradte and industry, told The Tribune that The bahamas’ membership in The World Trade Organisation (WTO) was a “done deal” due to the many economic benefits it would create, as the government moves to diversify the economy with a renewed focus on agriculture and fisheries.
Speaking to The Tribune following the closed Friday morning session at The PLP’s annual convention, Mr. Miller said The Bahamas would gain many benefits from WTO membership once its application was approved. The bahamas currently has observer stauts with the organistaion, which establishes and oversees the rules governing global free trade, acting as a mediator to solve inter-country disputes.
Although the minister did not detail the specific advantages of the WTO membership, private sector executives believe one benefit it might bring would be to remove uncertainty among foreign investors, as the process for investing in The Bahamas would be governed by WTO rules, thus making it more transparent and easy to use and compatible with other countries.
Meanwhile james Smith minister of state for finance, reiterated the governmens’s commitment to diversifying the economy through increased production and attracting new entrepreneurs into the agricultural and fisheries industries.
Although these sectors have traditionally been viewed as The Bahamian economy’s third tiere, they have consistently fallen short of expectations and remain a poorly tapped segment.
Mr. Smith said this reality was brought home when The Bahamas was temporarily cut off from the US for three days following the September 11 attacks. The Bahamian authorities discovered the country had six weeks of food supply left in the grocery stores and following this national security scare, the government has renewed its efforst to create a viable agricultural and fisheries industry so the nation has some level of self-sufficiency.
Mr. Smith said small states such as the Bahamas tend to be one-industry economies. the Bahamas has two leading sectors, toruism and financial services, which account for about 90 percent of all economic activity.
By Yolanda Deleveaux, The Tribune
