The Tribune

WASHINGTON, DC – Dr Eugene Newry, Bahamas Ambassador to the United States, officially presented his credentials to President Barack Obama at the White House on Tuesday.

Ambassador Newry, his wife Francoise Torchon Newry and other members of his immediate family were escorted in a motorcade with police outriders from the Bahamas Embassy on Massachusetts Ave to the White House by Tom Moran, Office of the Chief of Protocol, US Department of State, for the 3.30pm ceremony.

In presenting his credentials, Ambassador Newry told President Obama that one of “your recent predecessors stated that the United States and the Bahamas are not only friends but we are family. It is from that perspective that I present to you my country’s formal Letters of Credence.

“I also bring my Prime Minister’s greetings and wishes of peace towards all people of goodwill this season.”

Ambassador Newry added: “The United States and the Bahamas have, among the nations of the New World, the oldest of friendships and family ties.

“Among our earliest post-Columbian inhabitants were settlers from the Carolinas and Virginia, both Europeans and Africans. In the epic War of Independence, struggles of the Civil War, and Prohibition, annals of history show the role of the Bahamas and the presence of Bahamians.”

The Bahamian envoy noted that the State of Florida “bears the greatest mark of the Bahamian presence to this day where United States citizens of Bahamian heritage outnumber the total population of the archipelago of the Bahamas.

“World War Two saw valiant Bahamians join the armed forces of the United States in the fight against Nazism.

“Jointly, though in a different sphere, Bahamian men and women worked as part of the war effort as contracted workers on your great farms on the eastern seaboard, replacing your sons serving in the armed forces.

“The illustrious educators Mary Bethune Cookman and WEB Du Bois helped advance the cause of their fellow citizens against monumental odds and both claim Bahamian ancestry. The great artists Bert Williams, Sir Sidney Poitier, Esther Rolle, Roxy Roker and professionals such as Al Roker of the Today Show all are descendants from the Isles of June,” he said.

Economies

Emphasising that the economies of the Bahamas and the United States “are inextricably intertwined,” Ambassador Newry said one of his “roles is the strengthening, extending, reinforcing and perpetuation of these in a spirit of mutual benefit extending, of course, into the realms of national security, migration issues, ocean pollution, fisheries and other natural resources.”

In his response, President Obama noted that the Bahamas and the United States “share a long friendship based on mutual commitment to democracy and freedom, a commitment founded in strong and historic ties.

“The United States has had close economic, commercial, and cultural relations with the Bahamas that predate our independence. Few people know that, until the early 1700s, the Bahamas was actually as part of the Carolina land grant.

“Through the centuries, pirate ships and rum runners have given way to cruise ships and tourists, and the citizens of our countries continue in frequent contact with each other. This includes the ever-increasing number of Bahamian students studying in the United States, the more than 110 US-related businesses in the Bahamas, and the nearly five million annual American tourists that visit the Bahamas to enjoy the magnificent natural and cultural heritage of the Bahamas.”

Mr Obama said the United States and the Bahamas “have a shared interest in ensuring the security or our citizens and visitors, and we recognise the importance of combating crime and illegal activities that threaten us both.”