The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas has been urged to quickly exploit China’s willingness for it to become a debt settlement and Renminbi trading hub, a leading attorney saying: “It’s not going to fall into our lap.”

Dr Peter Maynard told Tribune Business that it was an opportunity his proposed Western Hemisphere Arbitration & Mediation Centre (WHAM) could handle.

“The suggestion, I understand, is to resolve disuptes related to Chinese currency, exchange questions and so on. That seems to be a fair area for the Bahamas,” the former Bahamas Bar Association president told Tribune Business.

“We’re in a strategic location, quite near the United State. We have relations with both countries and significant investment coming from China. I gather there are only a small number of countries doing this, and it is up to us to make ourselves a prominent player. It’s not going to fall in our laps.”

During Prime Minister Perry Christie’s recent trip to Beijing for the China/CELAC Forum, the Chinese president Xi Jinping announced an agreement in principle that would allow the Bahamas to be a country where debts involving international parties can be settled.

He also announced an agreement that would allow the Bahamas to trade in Chinese-denominated currency, the Renminbi (RMB) Chinese yuan.

The Government has touted this development as a significant achievement for the Bahamian financial services sector, particularly as this nation would become one of very few countries where RMB trading takes place.