The Tribune

By NATARIO MCKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) is seeking to establish an American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) branch in the Bahamas, its chief executive yesterday saying there were “fantastic synergies” to be realised between both bodies.

Edison Sumner told Tribune Business: “There are discussions now about developing an American Chamber of Commerce in the Bahamas. The purpose of that would be to look after the business relations between American firms who are present in the country and doing business here, and the Bahamian firms who are doing business directly with US companies.

“We already had some initial discussions with the AmCham executive direct from the US Chamber, and we are certainly pursuing that as a very interesting lead.”

He added: “We see that there is going to be some benefit to Bahamian business and the Chamber. We are working with the US Embassy and the AmCham chapters in the region, along with the US Chamber of Commerce, to make this a reality. We have already had those meetings.

“We have shown an interest in developing the AmCham in the country and we are now working toward that end. We have a number of American companies here operating, some of the large restaurants, for example, and companies doing business directly with US firms. AmCham has been established in other regions to promote and look at those types of businesses.

“We see that there are going to be some fantastic synergies between the Bahamas Chamber and the American Chamber in order to grow and develop the economies of the Bahamas, and also promote trade and industry between Bahamian companies and US based companies,” said Mr Sumner.

The BCCEC is set to take a small delegation to South Florida next month to explore bilateral trade opportunities there. “We are looking to develop a two-way relationship,” said Mr Sumner.

“We have been supporting the South Florida economy, and now we’re looking to see how we can get a reciprocal benefit. This trip is being facilitated by the US embassy in Nassau. It is going to be an exploratory mission for us.

“We hope to set this up so that we can take a bigger delegation later in the year, spend more time, see a lot more people and be be able to generate a lot more interest in doing business between South Florida and the Bahamas.”

Coming off the inaugural National Conclave of Chambers of Commerce in the Bahamas, Mr Sumner said the BCCEC was looking to make the event an annual one.

“We’re very pleased with the turnout. We were oversubscribed with the number of participants. We had an opportunity to have a very frank and open discussions with the heads of Chambers throughout the country,” he added.

“Coming out of that we all agreed that we would sign on to a new Memorandum of Understanding between all the Chambers of Commerce in the country that would govern the relations between the Chambers going forward. We expect that that document will be signed at some point in the next two weeks, and certainly by the time we have the chamber AGM on May 14.”