WASHINGTON, D.C., August 14, 2024 – His Excellency Wendall Jones, Bahamas Ambassador to the United States, yesterday boasted about the growth of the Bahamian economy and the high quality of governance in The Bahamas to a large group of potential investors in Washington D.C. during his address at a luncheon meeting of the International Affairs Committee of the prestigious Cosmos Club.
“The Bahamas is on the move and is attracting foreign investors who wish to invest in a politically stable country without any income tax and especially in close proximity to the United States,” Ambassador Jones told Cosmos Club members.
He added, “We believe that our country, despite the global challenges, is one of the best governed countries in our hemisphere. We are happy to report that the yachting capital of The Bahamas, the Abacos, is once again experiencing growth after the devastating Hurricane Dorian in 2019 and we thank our friends and the many investors in the United States for their support and confidence in our economic growth.”
Ambassador Jones said that up until the late 1950s The Bahamas was welcoming mostly winter tourists, but “today tourism is a year-round industry with our Minister of Tourism projecting the arrival of 12 million visitors over the next year.”
“The tourism industry itself is being diversified in The Bahamas, with many of our Family Islands attracting more visitors than ever before and with new resort facilities being added to our tourism plant,” Ambassador Jones said, and invited the Americans to consider investing in the islands of the southern Bahamas as the industry is expanding.
“One of the pioneering steps being taken by The Bahamas is the mapping of the country’s seagrass meadows, which have shown potential to absorb carbon at rates equal to or more than the Amazon Rainforest,” Ambassador Jones said. “Through these studies , The Bahamas is poised to become the First Nation to issue Carbon Credits.”
The Ambassador added, “As we plan for the future, The Bahamas is standing on four pillars: the Human Capital of its citizens; the strength of its Governance arrangements; the resilience of its Natural and Built Environment; and the robustness of the Bahamian economy.
“The latter is highly dependent on the performance of the U.S economy, since the main engine of our economy is tourism and some 80 percent of our visitors come from this country. So it is in our interest that the U.S economy is strong, and that we continue producing products and services that are in demand both locally and abroad, supported by an attractive regulatory environment and modern, cost-effective infrastructure.”
Ambassador Jones assured the audience that “while some of the challenges for the future are daunting, The Bahamas is on the right course and prospects for growth and development are indeed bright.”
The Cosmos Club is a private Washington D.C. Social Club for individuals distinguished in science, literature, the arts, learned professions, or public service. The club has provided a prestigious environment for intellectual fellowship since 1878.
Members of the Club have included three U. S Presidents, two Vice Presidents, 14 Supreme Court Justices, 36 Nobel Prize winners, 61 Pulitzer Prize winners and 55 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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