Transport Minister Renward Wells said The Bahamas Maritime Authority (BMA), with one of the largest ship registries in the world, contributes about 5.4 million dollars to the consolidated fund.
He said, “the government doesn’t put anything into the BMA, and the authority puts money back into the economy because of our registry, and a lot of countries are pleased that we are on the IMO’s governing body.”
He added, “the Prime Minister wanted us to continue and to secure and ensure that we remain a part of it.”
The Bahamas has been a part of the Group C Commission of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for twenty years and in order to be on that board, other countries across the globe have to vote at the IMO meeting.
Back in November, the country was selected as the 20th nation to be on that board.
Mr. Wells said, “I was asked to go to the UN and we had bilateral meetings with a number of countries from whom we were seeking support. So, when the vote comes up again, they would vote for The Bahamas to remain on that council.”
The minister said he had a lot of bilateral meetings with countries like Bulgaria, Croatia, and Djibouti discussing with their foreign ministers their support for The Bahamas during the upcoming IMO vote.
He said, “as a result of our work in the maritime sector, because The Bahamas is a registry that a lot of ships in Asia are requesting to become a part, we realize that we can expand the business that the BMA is involved in by opening up an office in Tokyo.”
He added, “there’s even talk of perhaps doing one later on in Korea, but we’re going to move into the Asian market very very aggressively.”
The minister said the office in Tokyo will be open as early as November 10th-16th.
He along with Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest is set to go with members of the BMA that are expected to man that office.
