As I informed Members of the House of Assembly yesterday I will be using the occasion of my visit to Canada for the Annual Meetings of the Inter-American Development Bank to lead a trade and investment promotion mission while in Canada.  The mission will include stops in Western and Eastern Canada.

I will be joined in the Trade and Investment Mission by the Attorney General, Sen. the Hon. John Delaney, QC and the Minister of Tourism, Sen. the Hon. Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace and by Minister of State, Zhivargo Laing who is attending the IDB Meeting and who departed for Canada this morning.  

It was an oversight on my part not to have previously mentioned the Attorney General’s participation in the trade mission.  

As you may be aware Senator Delaney holds portfolio responsibility for the promotion of the financial services sector while the Ministry of Finance holds responsibilities connected to the regulation of the sector and the negotiation and implementation of Tax Information Exchange Agreements.  

Our trade mission to Canada will include officials from the Office of the Prime Minister/Bahamas Investment Authority, Ministry of Tourism, The Bahamas Maritime Authority, members of the Bahamas Financial Services Board including bankers, lawyers, and hoteliers, the Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD) and the Head Officers of the Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board and the Out Island Promotion Board, the President of The Bahamas Real Estate Association and representatives of the Grand Bahama Port Authority and BORCO.

The BFSB will host financial services and international business seminars in both Calgary and Toronto.  The seminar in Calgary, the largest city in the province of Alberta in Western Canada, will be followed by a luncheoan meeting at the Calgary Petroleum Club during which Government and private sector presentations will be made on business opportunities in The Bahamas.

In Toronto, the Royal Bank of Canada and Scotia Bank will jointly sponsor a luncheon meeting at the Toronto Board of Trade where again we will have the opportunity to make Government and private sector presentations to interested persons of note in Canadian business and commerce.  I am advised that we closed the Toronto luncheon event at 1:00 PM yesterday at which time some 218 persons had confirmed attendance.

While in Calgary, I will be interviewed by The Globe and Mail newspaper for an article scheduled for publication in their national newspaper next Thursday.  

In Toronto I am scheduled to be interviewed by the Sun News Network for a programme to air in April and by the Business News Network for an interview that will air on Wednesday 30th March at 12 noon with a repeat at 6pm.

I wish to unveil to you this afternoon the promotional material which The Bahamas Investment Authority will be taking to Canada.  

The principal piece is an updated edition of our promotional booklet entitled “The Bahamas – A Paradise for Many Reasons”.  Additionally, there are three individual flyers – one each for Tourism, Financial Services and Grand Bahama.

You should note that when these documents were first developed in 1994/95 they were produced overseas.

These new and updated versions have been produced in their entirety in The Bahamas.

The revisions to the text, taking into account new developments in our economy, new infrastructural developments, new legislation enacted, and new and additional overseas offices of the Government, were all done by the officers of the Bahamas Investment Authority.  

Mr. Knowles also spearheaded the introduction of new photos.  The photos were provided by BIS and the Ministry of Tourism as well as by a number of private banks and trust companies and other private sector companies.

The BIA was fortunate to obtain the assistance in the final layout of the new brochure by Benchmark Publishing, whose principal had also been instrumental in assisting with an earlier update of the brochure in the late 1990s.  

I am especially pleased to say that the books have been printed in-house by the Government Printing Department – from cover to cover.  I told them today, that they must not be so modest as they have been this time.  In the future I expect them to place on this document “Printed by Government Printing Department”.

I am happy to make copies of the brochure and flyers available to the press together with a list of the participants in the Trade and Investment Mission.  I am happy to take your questions.