NASSAU, Bahamas, January 19, 2023 — Prime Minister Philip E. Davis today delivered the keynote address at the 32nd Annual Bahamas Business Outlook, the country’s premier economic conference, at the Baha Mar Convention Centre.
With the upcoming launch of the 50th Independence anniversary events scheduled for this evening, the address explored the historical transformation of the Bahamian economy, provided a snapshot of where we stand as a country and looked forward to a “Bahamas that we are working toward together.”
The Prime Minister has just returned from Washington, D.C., where in his capacity as the new chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), he was officially “received” by the Organization of American States (OAS) during a protocolary meeting held by the Permanent Council of the OAS on Wednesday in the Hall of the Americas at OAS headquarters 17th Street & Constitution Avenue, N.W.
As the new Chairman of CARICOM for the next six months, Prime Minister Davis replaces Suriname’s President Chandrika Persad Santokhi as chairman of the intergovernmental organization that is a political and economic union of 15-member states — 14 nation-states and one dependency — throughout the Caribbean with primary objectives “to promote economic integration and cooperation among its members, ensure that the benefits of integration are equitably shared, and coordinate foreign policy.”
Established in 1973 with the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas in Trinidad and Tobago, CARICOM’S four founding members were Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.
Currently, there are 15-member nations and dependencies. CARICOM-member countries include Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, The Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Haiti, and Suriname.
Associate members are Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos. In addition, there are eight observer nations: Aruba, Colombia, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Sint Maarten, and Venezuela.
During his visit to D.C., the Prime Minister also met with Vice President Kamala Harris at The White House on Tuesday to discuss a number of issues facing The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean region.
One Tuesday night, he attended a reception hosted by the Embassy of The Bahamas and the Bahamas Embassy Consular Annex for Bahamians in the diaspora.
