Port of Spain (June 28, 2007) – Minister of Tourism of the Bahamas, Mr. Neko Grant, inaugurated the 17th Meeting of the ACS Special Committee on Sustainable Tourism at the Association of Caribbean States Secretariat in Port of Spain on June 28, 2007, welcoming delegates to the Committee’s first meeting of the year and announcing the decision of the Government of the Bahamas to ratify the ACS Convention on the Sustainable Tourism Zone of the Caribbean (STZC).

Minister Grant, who is also the newly appointed Chairman of the Special Committee on Tourism, in informing those present of the impending ratification, added that “as Chairman of the Special Committee on Sustainable Tourism, I am committed to working with Member States who have not yet ratified the Convention to ensure its entry into force.”

Ms. Jasmin Garraway, Director of Sustainable Tourism of the ACS (at left), gives a warm welcome to the Honourable Neko Grant, Minister of Tourism of the Bahamas, and Chairman of the ACS Special Committee on Sustainable Tourism

Addressing the meeting on behalf of the Secretary General, the Director of Sustainable Tourism of the ACS, Ms. Jasmin Garraway, expressed her satisfaction at the news of the impending ratification of the Tourism Convention on the part of the Bahamas, and congratulated the Minister both on this decisive step forward as relates to the STZC and on his new role as Chairman of the Special Committee on Tourism.