The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Almost 90 percent of The Bahamas’ exports to Canada benefited from duty-free access via the Caribbean’s free trade agreement, a Cabinet minister has revealed.

Senator Kwasi Thompson, newly-appointed minister of state for finance, said some $17m out of a total $19m in Bahamian exports entered Canada via the CARIBCAN trade agreement in 2019 despite The Bahamas largely remaining outside rules-based trading regimes.

With the latest World Trade Organisation (WTO) accession bid having already stalled pre-COVID, and the pandemic’s fall-out likely pushing this further down the government’s priority list, the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU) as well as one-way preferences obtained from the US mark The Bahamas’ few other forays into trading relationships.

Mr Thompson, addressing the recent Canadian trade mission to The Bahamas, added that Disney Cruise Line’s partnership with the Eleuthera Chamber of Commerce and Small Business Development Centre (SBDC) to further boost that island’s business start-ups was just getting off the ground.

The cruise line, as part of the agreement for the Lighthouse Point destination that has attracted strong opposition from environmental groups, agreed to inject $1m into the effort as part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with its two partner entities.

“The new Business Hub just had a soft opening a few days ago,” Mr Thompson said. “It will be staffed with advisors and house a number of resources to support entrepreneurs. These are the types of collaborations that drive high returns for investors and for our communities.”

He echoed the prime minister’s recent national address by touting $1bn worth of investments in downtown Nassau, including the $200m Pointe project that is nearing completion as well as the $250m cruise port redevelopment. Other projects include the new $318m US embassy and the Central Bank’s planned head office at Royal Victoria Gardens.