WELCOME – Minister for Grand Bahama the Dr. Michael Darville is pictured (right) as he welcomes WTO Deputy Director General David Shark to Grand Bahama. Pictured left is the Minister for Financial Services Ryan Pinder.

Freeport, Bahamas - Minister for Grand Bahama, Dr. Michael Darville officially welcomed David Shark, Deputy Director General of the World Trade Organisation to Grand Bahama on April 10th.

Mr. Shark was accompanied by Ryan Pinder, Minister for Financial Services; Rhoda Jackson, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of The Bahamas to the United Nations office and other international organisations in Geneva, Switzerland; Ms June Young Lee WTO Legal Advisor; and Ms. Keva Bain, Acting Director of Trade and Industry.

The Bahamas is in the process of negotiating accession to the World Trade Organisation primarily to secure favourable market access for its goods and services into the international community.

Mr. Shark arrived in The Bahamas on Wednesday, meeting with Senior Government officials in New Providence, prior to traveling to the nation’s second city.

His visit to The Bahamas is expected to increase public awareness about the WTO accession process, the multilateral rules governing international trade, and how those rules impact market access to foreign markets by Bahamian companies, and access by foreign companies to the Bahamian market.

His first stop in Grand Bahama was a courtesy call at the Ministry for Grand Bahama. He then went on to meet senior executives at the Grand Bahama Port Authority, the Freeport Container Port, Grand Bahama Shipyard, the Bahamas Oil Refining Company and Pharmachem Technologies Limited.

Mr. Shark was also the featured speaker at a luncheon hosted by the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce, which was held at the Pelican Bay Resort.

Addressing the media on Thursday morning, the Minister for Grand Bahama pointed out that Mr. Stark has extensive experiences in trade policy and as Deputy Director General to the World Trade Organisation, one of his responsibilities includes the trade and environment division, which maintains contacts and dialogue with NGOs and the private sector on issues or mutual interest in the area of trade and the environment.

Mr. Darville pointed out that as The Bahamas continues its accession process into WTO it is important that our private sector partners as well as the residents of Grand Bahama are aware of the benefits of gaining access into international markets and more favourable duty rates which can help industry as well as the manufacture and maritime sectors.

WTO TALK – David Shark, Deputy Director General of the World Trade Organisation was on a fact finding mission to Grand Bahama on Thursday morning. Pictured left to right during a Courtesy Call at the Ministry for Grand Bahama are: Melvin Seymour, Permanent Secretary, Ministry for Grand Bahama: Jerome Fitzgerald, Minister of Education, Science and Technology; Dr. Michael Darville, Minister for Grand Bahama; Mr. Shark; Ryan Pinder, Minister of Financial Services; and Ms Rhoda Jackson, The Bahamas Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other international organisation in Geneva, Switzerland.

He said that he also supports the Minister for Financial Services view “that Grand Bahama is not in violation of WTO rules and is in position to reap the benefits that accompany our country becoming a member of the World Trade Organisation.”

Minister for Financial Services, the Honourable Ryan Pinder also pointed out that they were in Grand Bahama with a senior delegation from WTO in an effort to bring public consultation both to the government level and more importantly to the private sector about the accession of The Bahamas to the World Trade Organisation and more particularly the opportunities to our private sector especially in trade and industry that will come about because of our accession process.

“Certainly Freeport, the industry capital of The Bahama, s is a key player in this.

“We have examples of industry and trade already ongoing here in Freeport and we want to take the opportunity to expose Mr. Shark to some of the industry components, but also some of the key logistics that are in place such as the Container Port, BORCO, and certainly the trade elements with Polymers and Pharmachem and other industrial components here in Freeport, so there could be an understanding of where we see The Bahamas, and the placement of The Bahamas in global value chains to develop trade and industry.

“We believe it is an exciting time for Freeport, an exciting time for the development of Freeport, and only through this process and the exposure to this process do we think there will be growth for Bahamians here as we try to develop onward,” he said.

WTO Deputy Director General, Mr. David Sharp was very thankful for the reception given him since his arrival in The Bahamas on Wednesday and spoke of the “excellent” meetings he had with Government Ministers and the business community thus far.

He said that he was impressed by the level of engagement by the private sector on the issue.

“I know in Grand Bahama people probably need very little convincing of the importance of the benefits of international trade. You all live it every day, but you can see it in Nassau, too,” he said.

He pointed out that the international business touches everywhere and that The Bahamas is very much a part of that.

“I think we now have an important opportunity because being a member of the WTO is another way of The Bahamas saying we are open for business, we have sound and predictable environment for businesses to take root here, although you already have a great deal of activities.

“But, you are in competition! You are in competition as a region. Right now you are the only country in the region that is not a member of the WTO and that is a factor that businesses look at when they decide where they are going to go, because being a member of the WTO provides stability for the business environment.

“Some people have said well we are primarily a service economy so what does The Bahamas has to gain from this organisation because people still tend to think of the trading system as focusing on industrial products.

“But we have in creating the WTO back in 1995, created the general agreement on trade and services as part of the body of rules of the WTO,” he said.

Additionally, he said that first of all there is no reason why The Bahamas cannot be a player in manufacturing.

“With supply chains, you can become a part of chain doing segments of production process. It don’t have to be the whole thing, so there is no reason why The Bahamas can’t be a part of the supply chains on the goods side, but we have found in recent research that when you look at trade that was once thought of as goods trading and you look at the supply chain, that a substantial portion in fact, often time the majority is services that is attached to that trade in goods,” he pointed out.

He also stressed that The Bahamas already has competitive advantage in the services trade and that this is a way of capitalising on that.

Mr. Shark also informed that the pace at which the accession process works is really up to the country that wants to join.

“From what I have seen, I have seen great enthusiasm on the part of the Government of The Bahamas in becoming a WTO member, but to become a WTO member on terms that are beneficial to the people of The Bahamas, and that is the way it should be.

“None of us are doing this out of some broad theoretical view of the world. This is about businesses, about jobs for our people, it is about growth and development and we hope that we can drive this process to conclusion soon,” Dr. Shark stated.