NASSAU –The United States government is looking to increase its engagement with nations in the region such as The Bahamas, with the aim of finding ways to grow economies, boost prosperity and create diversity in energy use, according to a US State Department official, The Tribune reported on May 14 in an article written by Taneka Thompson.
Kenneth Merten, acting principal deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, spoke of these goals while in The Bahamas last week. He was in town to meet with regional officials gathered at the 21st meeting of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations of the Caribbean Community, held in Nassau.
“It’s been a long time since someone in my job from the State Department has been here, so I wanted to rectify that,” he told The Tribune during an interview at the US Embassy in Nassau. “I had a number of terrific meetings with some of our key officials here. In terms of CARICOM, we have a strategy which we were asked to develop by our Congress. They passed, about a year and a half ago now, legislation called HR-4939 and in that legislation, (which passed with) bipartisan support, they asked us to develop a programme or a strategy to increase our engagement with the Caribbean.
“We sort of outlined a way forward in terms of co-operation which would involve meetings to get together to figure out ways we could help grow economies, increase prosperity, work on some energy issues to build greater diversity of energy use, more energy dependence for our partners in the region, some increased cultural exchanges, increased diplomatic engagement, work together on security issues, so all those things.”
Mertin said he was able to have a number of short discussions with ministers and “had some full-on bilateral meetings with several others.”
“I think we have very good conversations,” he said.
