Greetings by Rt. Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham, Prime Minister. Dinner in Honour of Visiting US Congressional Delegation, Wednesday, 8 April, 2009, US Ambassador?s Residence

Colleague Ministers,
Chairman, the Honourable John Conyers,
Congressman, the Honourable Lamar Smith,
Congresswoman, the Honourable Donna Christensen,
Congresswoman, the Honourable Jan Schakowsky and Mr. Bob Creamer,
Mr. Timothy Zuniga-Brown, Charge d?Affaires, a.i.
Congressional and Embassy Staff
Senior Public Officers,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I should like to thank Mr. Brown for arranging this opportunity for my colleagues and me to meet informally with this important delegation from the United States Congress.

I extend a very warm welcome to each of you. We are pleased, Mr Conyers, to welcome the leadership of the Judiciary Committee of the United States Congress to our shores. Let me at the outset encourage you to come again, and often.

The United States and The Bahamas have a longstanding tradition of warm and mutually beneficial relations. Many of our people have familial connections with the United States.

Indeed, many Bahamians believe it is a birthright of ours to visit your country. Certainly, South Florida is as familiar, if not more so, to many of our people as are other parts of The Bahamas. Bahamians visit your country in large numbers: to pursue higher education, to seek specialist medical attention -- and to shop!

We are pleased therefore, that so many of your citizens think first of The Bahamas when planning warm weather vacations.

More that 85% of visitors to our country come from North America. We want to do all that is possible to encourage and grow that trend.

We are, after all, near, friendly, fun-loving and English-speaking. And I trust that you will get accustomed to driving on the left side of the road, which in our country is the right side.


Mr. Chairman,

I understand that you are coming to The Bahamas following upon a visit to Haiti. I was pleased to learn of the interest of the Judiciary Committee and very especially of your personal interest, Mr. Chairman, in the various initiatives by your country and by Caribbean countries to give hope that this, the poorest country in our hemisphere, can progress toward political stability and economic development.

You are no doubt aware that Haiti has always been a priority for The Bahamas. Political and economic instability in that country has serious implications for us; not least being the continuing flow of undocumented persons to and through our country, often in transit to the United States.

The terrible cost in terms of loss of life at sea, the dehumanizing treatment endured by migrants travelling on overcrowded, unseaworthy craft, is immense. The extent to which criminal elements are becoming increasingly engaged in this traffic is of growing concern given the vulnerability of our many islands and the consequences for our security.

The financial cost to The Bahamas resulting from turmoil in Haiti is burdensome, whether in terms of the cost of increased sea and air patrols, the detention and repatriation of undocumented persons, or the absorption of immigrants into our communities.

As you might imagine, the cost of providing health, education and other social services to this unanticipated population is huge, particularly for a small developing country like The Bahamas.

I am aware also, Mr. Chairman, of the interest of your Committee in a number of other issues, also of priority concern to The Bahamas, including security of sea and air ports, anti-drug trafficking and anti-money laundering initiatives, and efforts to combat the related traffic in arms.

We have a long and successful record of cooperation and collaboration with various agencies of the US Government in fighting these nefarious activities including the US Coast Guard, the DEA, the US Department of Defence, the Treasury Department and the Office of the US Attorney General.

I am pleased to express the appreciation and gratitude of my Government and, indeed, of the people of The Bahamas for the assistance received from your Government in improving our capability to deal with this continuing scourge.

I hasten to emphasize the critical importance of the continuation of our various joint programmes to stem and bring to an irreducible minimum the quantity of illicit substances transiting our country en route to yours, the infiltration of weapons into our communities from your country and beyond, and to combat the laundering of ill-gotten gains.

I trust that notwithstanding the current difficult economic environment, programmes of such value to the wellbeing of the people of our two countries will not be sacrificed at budget time.

I am pleased that you will have the opportunity tomorrow to meet and discuss these matters with me and a number of my cabinet colleagues who hold Cabinet responsibility for some of these matters. I trust that you will learn more of the ongoing cooperation and collaboration between our two countries on a wide array of initiatives.

I want especially this evening to reiterate my warm welcome to you and to say again how pleased we are to receive you in our country.

Thank you.