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New BahamasGovernment Underscores Financial Services Promotion
The new Progressive Liberal Party (PLP)government intends to increase the budget for the internationalpromotion of The Bahamas' financial services industry, and, alongwith the private sector, to mount "an aggressive campaign"in major onshore markets to attract a more sizable share of theinternational market for offshore services.
This was disclosed May 22 in the Speechfrom the Throne, read by Governor-General Dame Ivy Dumont, atthe reopening of Parliament following the May 02 general election,in which the PLP captured 29 of the 40 House of Assembly seats.There was a 90-per-cent voter turnout in the poll, the Governor-Generalnoted.
Her 53-minute address was delivered in ParliamentSquare and carried live on the government's radio and televisionstations as well as on private radio stations. A leaden sky andintermittent drizzle did little to dampen the enthusiasm of speciallyinvited guests, former lawmakers, members of the judiciary anddiplomatic corps, and civil servants seated under tents, or ofthousands of residents who viewed the ceremony from behind metalbarricades.
Before the Governor-General began her address,the House of Assembly elected Mr. Oswald Ingraham, the M.P. fromSouth Eleuthera, as its 50th Speaker, and Mr. Anthony Moss, theM.P. from Exuma, as Deputy Speaker. The Senate chose Mrs. SharonWilson, an attorney and former senior magistrate, as its President.
The Governor-General said the governmentrecognizes that a closer working partnership with the privatesector is vital to the success of its efforts to revitalize thefinancial services industry.
"To assist in achieving this,"she said, "my government will establish a Financial ServicesConsultative Forum to facilitate structured and continuous dialoguebetween the government and the private sector so that legislativeand promotional strategies aimed at repositioning the financialservices industry to better meet the needs of international financialmarkets can be conceived and implemented within a framework ofcollaborative effort."
She also said the government intends toact on its campaign pledge to review financial services legislationwith a view to removing those provisions ruled unconstitutionalby the courts. It also plans to streamline and simplify paperworkrequirements under the Financial Transactions Reporting Act. Theunderlying fundamentals of the financial services legislation,however, will not be disturbed, she said.
The administration has set up the new Ministryof Financial Services and Investments, headed by attorney Mrs.Allyson Maynard-Gibson, to handle challenges in the financialservices trade, hit by the recent blacklisting crisis.
Noting that electronic commerce offers "enormouspotential" for the advancement of that sector and job opportunities,the Governor-General said the government will fast track the establishmentof The Bahamas as an e-commerce centre.
The government also plans to undertake studieswith a view to determining the viability of introducing a moresignificant liberalization of the exchange control system as ameans of stimulating investment in capital markets, and acceleratingand liberalizing the flow and exchange of money, she said.
In a reference to tourism, the engine ofthe Bahamian economy, the Governor-General said that to stimulatea diversification of the market, the government will encouragethe construction of a convention centre as a means of inducinglarge convention groups, both religious and business, to holdtheir conventions in The Bahamas. Citing the government's commitmentto integrity in public life, she said
It has adopted the strictest code of ethicsfor ministers and parliamentary secretaries in the nation's history.
The new code would be enshrined in a formalcommunication to parliament at the first working session of theHouse of Assembly. Additionally, the government will introducea bill for an Integrity in Public Life Act to govern all parliamentarians,heads of government boards and senior civil servants.
Among domestic challenges listed by theGovernor-General were reducing the level of crime, stemming theincrease in illegal immigration, combating the resurgence in drug-trafficking,eliminating sub-standard conditions under which families stilllive in inner cities, maintaining industrial peace and harmonyin the workplace in both the public and private sectors, introducingnew strategies for the economic improvement of Family Island communities,and protecting The Bahamas' coastal and marine environment andfisheries resources from damage and depletion.
A reception for invited at Government Housefollowed the reopening of parliament.