Distinguished Guests,Ladies and Gentlemen,Good morning.

First of all, I’d like to express my thanks to the Caribbean Council for organising thisInvestment Seminar this morning.

We are very grateful for your support for The Bahamas, both for this event, and for thespotlight put on The Bahamas last night at your Annual Reception at the House of Lords.We very much appreciated the warmth of your welcome, and your generous hospitality.

My remarks this morning will echo much of what I said last night during my Keynote address.For me, it is very important that discussions about investment in The Bahamas, are not heldin isolation, whereby we just focus on individual projects, and the various incentives,concessions and other opportunities are highlighted to pitch for interest.

Instead, I think it is more helpful, and indeed critical, that we put investments into the widercontext of what is best for the national development of The Bahamas.

And I consider it a privilege to be able to spend a few minutes sharing with you, the visionand the roadmap that my government has for our country.

Ladies and Gentlemen: You have privileged me at a time when there is a real air of‘history-in-the-making’.

The Coronation of Their Majesties, King Charles III and Queen Camilla takes place during theyear in which we in The Commonwealth of The Bahamas celebrate 50 years as a fullyindependent nation.

The fact that we remain both a realm of the Crown, and a fully sovereign nation, points tothe mix of the traditional and the modern, which infuse our national identity.

It speaks to a journey, an evolution, of a country – The Bahamas - which, by any measure, isstill in its first flush of youth.

And yet, despite the fact that we are still in our early years of national development, thereare already a host of prevailing ideas: about Small Island Developing States, the Caribbeanregion generally, and The Bahamas in particular.

Some of these ideas do not serve us well.
Some are out-of-date.
Some were never true.

And perhaps, the most widely-held ideas are formed from our success in tourism andfinancial services: that what we are, that all that we are, are sandy beaches, shimmeringsunsets, and a haven for tax dodgers.

While we enjoy some of the appeal of that image, tonight I invite to you engage with a moreevolved idea of The Bahamas: one that embraces the historical realities that shape ourpresent, one that embraces innovation while celebrating tradition, and one that has agenuine appreciation for the economic, cultural and political life and aspirations of theBahamian people.

In thinking how you might engage with us as investors, or partners in some other way, I’dfirst like to speak briefly about how the rapidly-changing world is rapidly impacting the waywe do things.

The shifting geo-politicial realities of the past few years continue to have a direct impactupon us all.

The COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, rising tensions between China andthe West, and the UK’s departure from the European Union, translate into a host ofchallenges for many, if not most countries.

Closer to home in The Bahamas, we have to contend with the almost complete breakdownof the functions of the state in Haiti, and the weaknesses of the economy of Cuba which isstill heavily weighed down by the American embargo.

Towering above the rising prices, the supply chain disruptions, and the misery anddesperation of the thousands of Haitian and Cuban refugees who make their way to ourshores, towering above all of these is the issue of climate change.

For us, the threat of warming oceans, rising sea levels, severe coastal erosion and theincidence of catastrophic hurricanes which are still growing in frequency and intensity, allcontribute to a threat which is truly existential.

If we cannot find ways to make our country more resilient to these shocks, we will notsurvive.

If we cannot find ways to adapt, to reduce the loss of live s and livelihoods, we will notsurvive.

But we have not abandoned hope.

For us, these series of global shocks present a stark truth about the need for active andurgent partnership.

In remarks I made to the General Assembly of The United Nations in September 2021 inrelation to the Covid-19 pandemic, I made the point that surely, a key learning that came outof the experience, is that none of us are safe until we are all safe.

A similar idea prevails in relation to wider issues of national development.

None of us can really make progress, unless others do as well.

Your success likely will attract our refugees, your national security will likely be compromisedby those desperate to survive.

We estimate that more than 40% of our national debt is due to damage caused byhurricanes.

That single fact casts an unflinching light on our situation.

We are caught in a cycle of Disaster, Repair and Rebuild.

Each hurricane, such as that category 5 monster called Dorian, unleashes catastrophicDisaster, which forces us once again, to have to Repair and Rebuild.

Put this into an historical context, and it becomes clear that we start with an historicdisadvantage.

Most of us in The Bahamas are descended from people who were forced to cross theAtlantic in the bottom of a boat.

And our natural resources were plundered to secure the development of countries far away.

Thank goodness the political and social conditions have changed dramatically, but there is alegacy of structural economic deprivation and hardship which remains.

But we do not despair.

We are pursuing ways to grow and diversify our economy, while at the same time activelyparticipating in discussions seeing support from the industrialised nations.

We are pleased that there are growing pledges to provide reparation for the damage beingdone by climate change.

As we are on the receiving end of their carbon emissions, we welcome this move towardsfairness and climate justice.

We are also engaged in discussions relating to wider reparations, for our many lossesresulting from the slave trade, and colonialisation.

And so I say again, we do not despair.

Tourism and Financial Services are still our main industries.

I am pleased to report that they are both returning to good health.

Visitor numbers are historically high, and the revenue earned has helped to right oureconomy post-Covid.

While the tourism industry was closed during the Covid-related lockdowns, the FinancialServices industry, in large part, kept us going.

We remain a jurisdiction without income or corporate tax, although we are being invited tochange our corporation tax arrangements in line with global initiatives.

While Tourism and Financial Services are fairly mature industries in Bahamian terms, bothstill have great capacity for opportunity and growth.

In Tourism, since coming into office in September 2021, we have signed a number ofagreements for tourist-related developments.

Some are already underway.

As part of the evolved idea of The Bahamas we now promote, we insist that these and alldevelopments, spring from a sense of genuine partnership.

We don’t want the benefit of these investments to be just low-skilled, marginal jobs for ahandful of Bahamians.

We also want the benefits to include opportunities for Bahamians to pursue meaningfulcareers, and, where possible, lead to some form of wealth creation.

The Financial Services sector is an area where we have already made strides indiversification and innovation.

The ‘Digital Assets and Registered Exchanges’ or the DARE legislation we enacted, made usthe first jurisdiction in the world which made a serious effort to regulate the nascent digitalassets industries, notably relating to blockchain technology and crypto-currencies.

Contrary to some of the more intemperate commentary made at the time, the experiencelast year of the failure of FTX in our jurisdiction, proved the effectiveness of our regulatoryregime.

It was the strength of the DARE Act that enabled The Bahamas to act first, and to actdecisively on FTX. Our Securities Commission was able to quickly put the Bahamas-basedentity into provisional liquidation, ahead of their filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

We were also able to secure FTX assets, which had a market or trading value around $3.5billion at the time they were secured. The US debtors in the chapter 11 themselves creditedthe Bahamian regulatory framework in the securing of assets.

It is this robust regulation which was critical to The Bahamas achieving a perfect 40 out of 40rating with the FATF Recommendations, a milestone which only six countries in the worldhave achieved.

We find it odd that we are criticized for business failures, when our regulatory regime iseffective, and yet the same criticisms are not levied against those national jurisdictions whoare currently experiencing a number of bank failures. Are the regulators to blame for thefailures of Credit Suisse? First Republic? Silicon Valley Bank?

We fear we have fallen victim to the same kind of prejudices which have led the EuropeanUnion to put us on a blacklist for what are effectively administrative short-comings, whensome of their members engage in exactly the same, legal activities, that we do.

Are we expected merely to do as they say, but not as they do?

I have spoken forcefully against this practice at the UN and elsewhere, and will continue todo so.

We are grateful that an Irish Member of the European Parliament also made the point indebate.

We invite others to continue to do so.

In this, as in climate change, here again a more evolved idea of The Bahamas takes shape.We think it important to speak up globally, to engage in international discussion and debate,in ways which previously, was simply left to larger players.

In doing so, we seek to join the rule-makers, and not just remain a rule-taker.

And we are heartened to see that our advocacy is having a beneficial impact.

Apart from innovation in digital assets, we are also proud of the work we are doing indeveloping a market in Blue Carbon Credits.

Thus far, our research findings indicate that our seas and sea-grasses absorb more carbonthan the Amazon Rain Forest.

With such a sizeable resource, we see enormous potential in monetizing and developing thisnew asset class, one which the IMF has already indicated that they will support.

Apart from these innovations in existing sectors, we are also diversifying into new areas ofeconomic activity.

We welcome investment in all of them.

So, for example, we see significant potential in strengthening our cultural and creativesectors, to expand the commercialisation of the creative industries.

As a starting point, we are furthering plans to build a tertiary-level School for the Creative &Performing Arts, which will develop the talent and skill needed to grow the sector.

We are also strongly focused on enhancing our food security, and have recently launchedinitiatives to expand chicken and egg production.

More broadly, there are infrastructural and development opportunities and needs, somerelated to the impact of climate disasters which I referenced earlier.

In health and education, in the creation of jobs and the reduction of the cost of living, weinvite investment partnerships across our full economic landscape.

The welcome presence this morning of Bahamian companies, along with UK companies whohave already committed their investment, illustrate how the relationship between TheBahamas and the United Kingdom still holds so much potential.

We are both well-served when we can access new markets and customers, and deepen ourinvestment partnership.

Ladies and Gentlemen:As Prime Minister, and as a government, our fundamental goal is to make life better for thepeople of The Bahamas.

While this ought to be a self-evident truth for every nation, it is sometimes obscured whenwe seek to attract foreign investment.

We invite the money in, without doing our best to make sure that there are genuinecontributions to national development.

However, my government believes that the potential for private wealth creation, andinvestment in projects for the wider public benefit, can go hand in hand.

With an evolved understanding of what The Bahamas is, what The Bahamas does and cando, I believe that we can make it happen.

The Bahamas is open for business.

Thank you.