ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE FRED MITCHELL
MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS & THE PUBLIC SERVICE
ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE PROGRESSIVE LIBERAL PARTY
WYNDHAM CRYSTAL PALACE

    Mister and Madam Session Chair, Mister Leader and Mrs. Christie, Madam Deputy and Mr. Pratt, colleagues, my brothers and sisters.

    It is a profound privilege and honour for me to address this Convention for the first time as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Public Service of the Progressive Liberal Party government. In this regard I pay tribute to my predecessors in Foreign Affairs Sir Clement T. Maynard, Charles Carter and the Hon. Paul L. Adderley.

    It is an even more profound moment and honour for me to address you as the Member of Parliament for the Fox Hill constituency.  How well we remember 2nd May 2002 and I remind you of the Biblical exhortation that in the moment in the twinkling of an eye we shall all be changed.  I wish to recognize the Fox Hill constituency tonight and formally recognize the presence of my delegation.  I thank the people of Fox Hill most sincerely for their kind support.

    On your behalf, this Progressive Liberal Party Government has instituted a raft of initiatives aimed at making the Public Service more oriented to service and more sensitive to the public whose needs it is intended to serve.  Not the least of these initiatives has been one to ensure that the Public Service is a better, more understanding place in which to work.  What is better for Public Servants is ultimately better for the general public.  The major challenges of my portfolio for the country however, have come in the realm of Foreign Affairs.

    When Lynden Pindling became the Premier of the country following majority rule in 1967, Mike Craton in his book Pindling, the First Prime Minister of The Bahamas reports that on the day after Sir Lynden's swearing in, he held a press conference.  In that press conference he assured the world and in particular our usual international partners, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Caribbean that there was no need to fear. He addressed them all and said "have faith in us". He pledged that the country would continue to be peaceful and stable and adhere to the rule of law. I say to all our international partners tonight have faith in us.

    Almost thirty six years after that first pledge, having come to office on 2nd May, the PLP did the same thing and tonight we repeat that pledge to be at peace with all our neighbours and to support the United Nations, the principles of the Universal Declaration, and to respect the sovereign integrity of every state.

    But of course that is not as simple as it seems. There are practical pressures which every state endures from time to time which will test these time honoured principles.  But I am of the firm belief that if we stick to these principles, our ship of state will survive the rough seas of international relations. Ours is a practical but proactive foreign policy.

    Our relations with all states are good.  I am happy to say that there are no problems that I see on the horizon as the Prime Minister's principal advisor on foreign affairs that are not manageable.  And that is an important point to note.   Relations between states are dynamic and as such they must be managed to the mutual benefit of each state.

    We are bordered by four countries: the United States, Cuba, Haiti and the Turks and Caicos Islands.  We have good relations with all of those states.  But I think that while we agree that all the relations are important, none is more important and none has to be more carefully managed than the relationship with the United States of America.

    You will also agree that of all the relationships, the most politically sensitive for our country is the relationship with the republic of Haiti.  We expect the Government of Haiti's Foreign Minister Philippe Antonio and a delegation to come to Nassau on the 27th and 28th of November.  This is the first round of talks since the meeting of the Bahamian ministerial team in July with Haiti's President Jean Bertrand Aristide. We hope within six months to conclude a new treaty that will signal a new type of relationship, one dedicated to managing and controlling the flow of migrants into this country from Haiti.

    The Government has committed itself to building up Matthew Town in the south as the bulwark against the migrant incursion from the south, with more resources in a deepened harbour and docking facilities, a lighted runway and the development of a detention centre and properly equipped Defence Force Base at Inagua.  This will require additional expenditure that you as delegates will be called upon to support.  The Government is seriously concerned that our domestic relations are on a knife's edge on the question of illegal migration and the issue must be more successfully managed.

    The United States Government has pledged its assistance in this fight by offering to employ the assets contributed to the Operation Turks and Caicos Island narcotics exercise to the fight illegal migration.

    The relations between us and the United States of America are excellent.  It is our largest trading partner.  But on the other side of our country is the Republic of Cuba with a political system that we find an anathema but a country to which our citizens travel freely, conduct business freely, obtain an education and also health care.   There is a significant lobby in this country for more open governmental relations with Cuba and for a higher level of diplomatic relations.  Some have suggested the level of resident Ambassadors.  The latter recommendation is not one that we propose to follow consistent with our judgment on geopolitical realities.

    The issue becomes sensitive because there is still a cold war between the United Sates and Cuba, even though at a functional level all the strictures between them have been progressively falling.  It leaves this country at its official level with a sovereign choice.  We must provide consular access for our citizens. We must also ensure that our commercial and political links with the United Sates are not threatened.

    In recent weeks, a U.S. representative at the United Nations visited Ambassador Anthony Rolle and indicated that they were unhappy about the pattern of voting of The Bahamas at the United Nations. While this voting pattern was established under the Free National Movement, there is no philosophical difference between us on these questions. A full report will be given to Parliament in due course.  The issues identified include issues relating to our relationship with Cuba and the continued U.S embargo against Cuba. We have indicated to the United States the obvious truth that our votes are not unlike those of Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union.

    I do not think that this threatens the fundamental relationship with the US, no more than does our expressed unhappiness with the unfair rejection of some visa applications by Bahamians who wish to travel to the U.S.  But it is important for delegates and the country to know what the view of our friend the United States is on the question of Cuba. My personal relations with their envoy are good.

    The best advice we have from our own experts is the United States itself will shift dramatically its policy toward Cuba within five years.  It is therefore prudent to have good relations with Cuba on a functional level and know the players in Cuba.  Fidel Castro is not going to last forever.  He is now 75 years old.  The younger generation of Cuban leaders is well aware that their system as it is cannot last.  It may be that the role of The Bahamas is to engage that younger generation of Cubans, acquaint them with true democracy as Bahamians know it and the free market, get to know them in advance so that the economic and other benefits that will accrue after the thaw between themselves and the United States will also come to The Bahamas. We ought to actively engage and encourage Cuba to become a democratic society. Notwithstanding the intense lobby for Cuba in the country, and the admitted sensible arguments that are made, my advice is that our relationship with Cuba ought to remain cordial but correct. The geopolitical reality of The Bahamas is that our citizens believe that they have as Cleveland Eneas once said an inalienable right to go to Miami.  If the PLP threatens that, it does so at its political peril. We do not intend to do so but our US friends must have faith in us for we cannot suborn our right to act in our best interests as a country. I look forward to the views of delegates on the subject, and to the hearings to be led by Kenyatta Gibson, MP Chairman of the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs.

    Your government and the people of The Bahamas have every assurance that all our international relationships will be managed carefully and deliberately, always in the best interest of our country. Our relations with the People's Republic of China are expected to be heightened within the next 12 months as our contacts grow and expand.
Fellow delegates, this party fought for the sovereignty of our people.  It is therefore our solemn duty to defend it.

    I thank you all for your continued support and understanding.  I congratulate the Prime Minister and Leader on leading us to this victory, and pray that Almighty God continues to bless us all in foreign policy and all other matters under my charge.

    God bless you and my special love and appreciation again to the people of the Fox Hill constituency.