The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Deputy Chief Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has urged heads of government in the Caribbean region to continue embracing the United Nations’ climate protocols to combat climate change, as he repeated his administration’s intention to launch an “ambitious” solarisation programme in the country over the next five years.

And although the government has yet to advance its promised anti-corruption legislation in the House of Assembly, Prime Minister Minnis went on to boast of his administration’s implementation of a “zero tolerance approach” to corruption.

He further called on leaders in the region to create tourism-based marketing and improvement programmes on facts instead of opinions or gut instincts with a view to improving fiscal positions and unemployment levels throughout the Caribbean.

The prime minister spoke last night in St Georges, Grenada during the 39th regular meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean. This is Dr Minnis’ first regional meeting as the nation’s leader. He is also the head of state with responsibility for tourism.

“Our people need us to act together to harness the tremendous mutual potential of the region, while facing shared challenges,” the prime minister said yesterday.

“Our region is dependent upon the resources of the sea, the blessings of the trade winds and year-round ambient temperatures. Accordingly, we must continue to embrace the UN climate protocols because our livelihoods and existence demand regional and global action to address climate change generally, and threats such as rising sea levels, depleted fish stocks, and the frequency and intensity of hurricanes.

“We should be diligent in putting into action our plans for renewable energy, and energy efficiency from the sun, the wind, the oceans, rivers and lakes. It is my government’s intention to launch an ambitious solarisation programme in the Bahamas over the next five years.”

He continued: “In addition to our populations, our region hosts just under 30 million stopover visitors annually. As both of these numbers increase we will need to increase the production of power generation, electricity and clean water. We will need to improve waste treatment and recycling. These challenges can only be met with renewable solutions. We must bring the same vigour and focused discipline to the task of economic development.

“Corruption remains a formidable challenge to small and developing countries such as my own and we are determined to brutally confront this challenge. In this regard, my government has implemented a policy of zero tolerance for corruption.

“Upon taking the oath of office, all ministers have been told that they would be immediately dismissed if they are found out to be soliciting or accepting payments. We will implement strong anti-corruption laws and measures,” Dr Minnis also said.

Regarding tourism, Dr Minnis said collectively the region is the most tourism dependent in the world. This, he said, should drive a more focused approach in finding ways to extract much more value from this area.

“Given the collective state of our fiscal positions and levels of unemployment, we must become more focused on finding ways to extract much more value from that area of our economies. It is time that we create marketing and product improvement programmes based on facts instead of opinions or gut instincts, which are often proven wrong in the face of new knowledge gleaned from data.

“By example, we should better appreciate the stored value that is waiting to be unleashed by the proper analysis of multi-year data from immigration cards and from the development of tourism satellite accounts.

“Tourism officials in the Bahamas are increasingly astonished by the information that such analyses are telling us, and the refreshing guidance that it is providing. Additionally, we must more aggressively address perennial issues like regional air and sea transportation to make it easier and more affordable to move people and goods around the Caribbean, including citizens and residents of the region and visitors.”

Accompanying Dr Minnis in Grenada are his wife, Patricia Minnis, Foreign Affairs Minister Darren Henfield, Education Minister Jeffrey Lloyd, Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister Joshua Sears, Bahamas Ambassador-designate to CARICOM Reuben Rahming, and the Director General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sharon Brennen-Haylock.

The CARICOM meeting ends on Thursday.