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Last Updated: Jan 23, 2018 - 4:28:37 PM |
 AUSTIN, Texas – Prime Minister, Dr. the Hon. Hubert A. Minnis Tuesday described his stopover visit to Austin, Texas, as being “very productive” after meeting with State, technology and business officials from a number of major U.S. companies operating there.
The Austin visit is part of the Minnis Administration’s plan to establish Grand Bahama as the technology hub of the region, and follows on the heels of Grand Bahama hosting its first major Technology Summit in Freeport, in November 2017.
Austin is considered the “Silicon Hills” of Texas because of the cluster of high-tech companies in the Austin metropolitan area including Dell, Hewlett Packard, Google, Samsung and Cisco Systems, among others.
Its name “Silicon Hills” refers to the hilly terrain on the west side of Austin. The area employs more than 2,000 persons from major corporations like Apple and Microsoft. The city also has a booming bio-tech industry with more than 8,000 employees.
Prime Minister Minnis, who departed New Providence on Sunday (January 21) for Austin – the first stop on a visit to the State of Texas which includes a stopover in Houston – also met with Governor Greg Abbott “in order to establish a relationship between the Governor of Texas and the Prime Minister with the expressed purpose of identifying foreign investment and business opportunities that would benefit The Bahamas.”
Prime Minister Minnis and his delegation also met with officials from the Austin Technology Council (ATC). Since 1992, the Austin Technology Council has been the “informed opinion leader and unifying voice” of technology in Austin and Central Texas and is the region’s largest tech industry organization.
“We had a very productive day in Austin where we met with the Austin Technology Council,” Prime Minister Minnis said. “I made a presentation on doing business in The Bahamas and creating a technology hub, especially in Grand Bahama. I further spoke about the great benefits of Grand Bahama and all of the infrastructure already present. I spoke of the Port, of our stable government, and after completing that we had a very productive lunch meeting with Governor Greg Abbott and quite a number of business leaders.
“We are now in a digital revolution and it is essential that The Bahamas gets on board and moves with that revolution. We must not get left behind. We can be the technology hub in the region and be the leading technology centre for the Caribbean,” the Prime Minister added.
Prime Minister Minnis said that meeting involved discussions surrounding business opportunities for Bahamians and businesses opportunities between the State of Texas and The Bahamas.
“We also spoke about the educational opportunities for our students as you know we have a large student population here. We will continue those meetings.”
The Prime Minister and his delegation, which includes Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Hon. Darren Henfield; Minister of State for Grand Bahama in the Office of the Prime Minister, Senator the Hon. James Kwasi Thompson; His Excellency Sidney Collie, Bahamas Ambassador to the United States of America; His Excellency Joshua Sears, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of the Prime Minister; His Excellency Cornelius A. (C.A.) Smith, Non-Resident Ambassador-designate for Central American States and Mrs. Linda Mackey, Bahamas Consul-General, Miami, also toured the Dell Headquarters where presentations were made.
“I met with and spoke with their Chief Commercial Officer on possibilities of future ventures, and that will be followed up especially by State Minister Thompson with respect to creating such a hub in Grand Bahama,” Prime Minister Minnis added.
The Prime Minister and his delegation traveled to Houston to meet with Television Evangelist Joel Osteen and members of the Bahamian Diaspora, including the Bahamian student population in Texas.
© Copyright 2018 by thebahamasweekly.com
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