Nassau, Bahamas - The Minister of National Security, the Honourable Tommy Turnquest, will assume the Chair of the Inter-American Commission on Terrorism (CICTE) at its Tenth Session, to be held in Washington, D. C, 16-19 March 2010. The Bahamas election as Chair of CICTE follows its earlier election for the period March 2009-2010 as Vice-Chair of this Commission of the Organization of American States (OAS), concerned with countering terrorism in the Americas.

The Bahamas leadership of CICTE is for the year 2010-2011, and it has presented as the theme for the year, “ Public Private Partnerships in the Fight against Terrorism”. Commenting on his Chairmanship of CICTE, Minister Turnquest said that experience of countries around the world has clearly shown that our country cannot consider itself immune from terrorist activity.

Minister Turnquest went on to say that The Bahamas has actively participated in the work of the CICTE in recognition of its vulnerability to terrorism and terrorist activity, as a far-flung archipelago with porous borders, having a vibrant tourism industry that attracts people from as near as the United States and from around the world, with a longstanding financial services industry. He added that The Bahamas will continue to do all in its power to ensure that its financial institutions are not exploited to fund terrorist activities.

The Bahamas initiatives in the CICTE are part of our ongoing cooperative work to improve the capacity of its agencies and institutions to address potential challenges from terrorism, and to actively consider the development of a national counter-terrorism strategy. The Government intends to work closely with The Bahamas private sector in this area.

The Minister will be accompanied to CICTE by Mr. Peter Deveaux-Isaacs, Under Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, and will return to The Bahamas on Saturday, 20 March 2010.