The Tribune

DR Eugene Newry, Bahamas Ambassador to the US met Congressman John Delaney, Representative for Maryland’s 6th Congressional District, at his office in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, April 30.

Ambassador Newry was joined in the meeting by Deputy Chief of Mission Chet Neymour and Third Secretary Mikhail Bullard.

Congressman Delaney, a former businessman who started two lending companies while in the private sector, sits on the House Committee on Financial Services and is a Member of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit as well as a Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Joint Economic Committee.

Given his strong business background, the Congressman proved to be quite knowledgeable about a number of business operations in the Bahamas and Ambassador Newry concurred that the Bahamas provided a good climate in which to do business.

Given the Congressman’s membership on the Financial Services Committee, the opportunity was also taken to highlight that the Bahamas was at the forefront in the Caribbean in terms of preparations to meet the obligations under the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), but that there was a substantial cost associated with fulfilling the requirements of the law and that consideration ought to be given by the US of ways to allay the compliance burden of the extra territorial legislation on smaller states like the Bahamas.

The ongoing issue of the deportation of criminals to the Bahamas, some of whom it was explained had no 
psycho-cultural ties to the Bahamas, was also discussed.

Ambassador Newry stressed that this indiscriminate deportation tends to exacerbate the existing criminal activities in the country and that flexibility in deportation standards and assistance with reintegration should be considered by the US.

Stressing the “great relationship” that exists between the Bahamas and the US, Ambassador Newry noted that the continued strength of this kinship was a testament to the fact that the Bahamas has one of the oldest collaborative relationships of any country with the US.

He further noted that the Bahamas is the United States’ “third border,” in addition to Canada in the North and Mexico in the South, and thus economic and security cooperation was of mutual benefit to both countries.