The Christie administration is moving swiftly to make The Bahamas a leading international arbitration centre in the hopes of creating more jobs and further strengthening the financial services sector, revealed Minister of Financial Services Ryan Pinder during his contribution to the budget debate.
Mr. Pinder explained that establishing The Bahamas as an arbitration centre would allow for focus to be paid specifically to the maritime and financial services industries.
“Three years have passed since the passage of the Arbitration Act, and the prior Free National Movement (FNM) administration did nothing to facilitate the development of this new professional services industry for The Bahamas,” Mr. Pinder said.
“It is the commitment of our administration and a personal desire of my prime minister to see that The Bahamas realises its potential in this area, causing international arbitration to be a component of the economic expansion, creating the additional employment and career development opportunities for Bahamians from the private sector.”
Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution whereby disagreeing parties use an independent third party to resolve their differences rather than going to court to settle disagreements.
It only covers civil disputes and the disagreeing parties are bound by the decision of the arbitrator or arbitration panel.
The financial services minister said that an arbitration centre would also help to promote economic diversification and the creation of various economic opportunities for Bahamians.
With the creation of arbitrational tribunals, Mr. Pinder said there would be both entrepreneurial and job opportunities available to Bahamians.
The government also expects that the tourism sector will experience a boost from The Bahamas becoming an international arbitration centre with airlift and hotel bookings expected to increase.
Mr. Pinder also projected opportunities to establish a broader market for service providers in professional services areas such as attorneys, bankers, accountants and senior practitioners of the bar, judiciary and specific industry areas.
“The Bahamas, having matured industries in financial services and maritime, is perfectly positioned to be a leading international arbitration center,” he said. “Financial services, especially expanded under the policies of the Ministry of Financial Services and our position as a leading jurisdiction for ship registrations provides natural markets to initially focus on.”
“The Trustee (Amendment) Bill 2011 was designed to add to the discretionary powers of trustees in administration of trusts and allow for arbitration of trust matters. This is a significant amendment for the advancement of The Bahamas as an international arbitration center.”
