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U.S
President and Caribbean Leaders hold “Friendly,
Important” Talks
Date Posted: March 21, 2008. Source BIS.
WASHINGTON, DC – Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham,
Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson and Belize Prime
Minister Dean Barrow took part in a “wonderful discussion”
with United States President George Bush, Mr. Ingraham said
Thursday.
The Caribbean leaders; all democratically elected within the
past year, met with the U.S President at the White House
Thursday afternoon.
President Bush, who joined by the Caribbean leaders and U.S
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice addressed reporters at
the White House following the meeting, also expressed this
positive sentiment. The President described the discussions
as “good, friendly and important.”
In a statement prior to the meeting, the White House
highlighted the United States’ longstanding friendship with
The Bahamas, Barbados, and Belize, indicating that the U.S
“shares deep social and familial ties as well as the values
of democracy and respect for human rights” with the three
countries.
Prime Minister Ingraham said: “We had a wonderful
discussion. We discussed a number of issues of concern and
relevance to ourselves, including our desire to have the
Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) extended.”
The Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), is a broad programme
to promote economic development through private sector
initiative in Central American and Caribbean countries. A
major goal of the CBI is to expand foreign and domestic
investment in nontraditional sectors, thereby diversifying
CBI country economies and expanding their exports.
The Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act of 1983 (CBERA)
(amended in 1990) and the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership
Act of 2000 (CBTPA), collectively known as CBI, provides
customs duty-free entry to the United States on a permanent
basis for a broad range of products from CBI beneficiary
countries.
The initiative is set to expire on September 30, 2008.
“We talked about tourism and the impact the current increase
in the price of oil is having on travel. We talked about
security [and] democracy,” Mr. Ingraham added.
President Bush, who referred to the Caribbean as the
“neighbourhood” of the United States, emphasised the
importance of the region.
“We talked about trade and tourism. We talked about how to
make sure our security needs are met without interrupting
the ability for our people to travel as freely as possible
and the ability for people to be able to make a good living
as a result of tourism,” he said.
“We talked about the region. I assured the Leaders that the
neighbourhood is important to the United States of America,”
Mr. Bush noted. “It was important for these leaders to know
that we believe that a good, strong, healthy, vibrant
neighbourhood is in the interest of the United States, and
so we had a good, friendly, important discussion.”
Congratulating the Prime Ministers on their recent and
“fair” election victories, President Bush added: “There is
no stronger advocate for democracy than my administration.”
Prior to the White House meeting, Prime Minister Ingraham
and his colleague Leaders met with Inter-American
Development Bank President Luis Alberto Moreno at the IDB in
Washington.
