His Excellency Claudio Bisogniero, Non-Resident Ambassador of Italy to The Bahamas, pays a courtesy call on the Minister for Grand Bahama, Dr. Michael Darville on Thursday, February 20.

Ambassador Bisogniero is based in Washington D.C.. He was accompanied during his visit to the Ministry of Grand Bahama by Emanuele Gariboldi, Italy’s Honorary Consul General in The Bahamas. He resides in Grand Bahama.

The Bahamas and Italy established formal diplomatic relations in 1978.

Dr. Darville told the ambassadors that during his stay on Grand Bahama his ministry will show why Grand Bahama Island has established a first class reputation as a major maritime and transshipment centre.

“You will see that our maritime industry encompasses a wide range of sectors including ship registry, ship and mega yacht repair, oil transshipment and storage and international cargo transshipment.

“We believe that Grand Bahama Island has a lot of potential to develop its natural resources and is poised to become a global shipping and business centre in preparation for the opening of the expanded Panama Canal in early 2015,” he stressed.

He also challenged the distinguished visitor to take in the sights and all that Grand Bahama has to offer, and to give his valuable input as we realise that there is always room for growth and further development.

Dr. Darville said it is his desire to foster a mutually beneficial relationship that will allow the equal exchange of information and that they can create valuable opportunities for trade expansion, transference of technical expertise and knowledge in tourism, maritime and industry, energy and financial services sector.

Ambassador Bisogniero said he was pleased to be in Grand Bahama and that it was important that he visited the island because of the number of Italian tourists that come here and to see first hand the investment opportunities that exists here.

He also encouraged Dr. Darville to lead a trade mission to Italy, which he will help to organise.