The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

INCREASED opportunities for investment and trade co-operation have been formed between Chinese companies and Grand Bahama entrepreneurs at the first Investment and Trade mission: Hubei, China to The Bahamas at the Grand Lucayan Resort.

More than 70 companies in Hubei met local entrepreneurs in Freeport at the four-day event, sponsored by Immerse Bahamas in collaboration with the Bahamian government, to discuss potential business opportunities and form partnerships.

Minister of State for Finance Michael Halkitis said the trade mission provided bilateral trade and expansion opportunities for both Hubei and the Bahamas, particularly in Grand Bahama. He said the possibilities are endless for all sizes of businesses to forge working relations with visiting entities from Hubei.

Mr Halkitis said Grand Bahama’s strategic location and its transshipment port makes Freeport the ideal place to be the staging ground for Chinese products throughout the region. He also pointed out that the opportunity exists for exporting locally-made products throughout China and other Asian markets.

“With the impending opening of the new Panama Canal, and with the container port facility here on Grand Bahama being one of the largest on the eastern seaboard, and with expansions currently underway, this island will have the potential to attract and accommodate the largest of cargo ships - Panamex, and eventually Post-Super-Panamex ships,” he told the delegation from Hubei. “This is significant, as it will position Grand Bahama as a major transshipment hub, more so than it is now. That provides more opportunities for import and export.”

Describing the trade mission to Freeport as “an historic initiative” he said: “Imagine a Sands beer on the dinner table in a restaurant somewhere in Beijing, or in a Chinese home; or the craft artisan exporting her jewellery or her handmade bags to China; the ‘Switcha man’ in Nassau may very well buy his bottles from a Chinese supplier, and in turn export his Bahamian style lemonade to China.”

Located on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, with a land area of 185,900 square kms and a population of 61 million, Hubei province is the largest comprehensive transport hub in central China.

Xiao Xuming, vice chairman of the Hubei Provincial Political Consultative Conference, said that the Bahamas has been China’s important partner in the Caribbean, and noted that the Hubei province’s exports to this country reached $11.35 million in 2014. “We brought 70 enterprises and members and they have had fruitful talks with local partners here and have found partners here,” she said.

She believes that the trade mission will further enhance their traditional friendship, expand economic and trade co-operation in various fields, and achieve mutual benefit and win-win co-operation mainly in agriculture, light industry, medicine, chemical industry, automobile and parts, high and new science and technology, urban construction, engineering construction, and building materials.

She also announced that they have signed a co-operative agreement with the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce. “This MOU will be the new start for economic and trade cooperation in Hubei China and the Bahamas,” she said.