Page 2922 - 1970S

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meel~ wuh governmenl's approval and
cnn prove lhey posscss 1he resources ;,uc–
ccssfully 10 develop a manufac1uring on–
dustry in the Rahamas can impon. free
of duty, any matcnals and machincry
necessary for building faetones."
Declarmg its intenuon 10 encourage
dcvelopmenl in indus1ry the BaJ>amas
Developmcnt Corporation has empha–
>~<td that lhe country "will conunuc to
pro• ode what i' among the best rangc of
tncenuvcs for the development ofpnvatc
cnterpme anywh<re in lhe world. and
natlon:alazattOn will nOt be an tnstrumeot
of thc govemment's econoilllc pohcy."
Manufacturing c:ompanies opcraung
on the Bahamas have a total exemptoon
from gros.s profil laxes for fifteen ycan;.
Also. there are no c:orporate taxes and
no restnctions on repatnation of asscts.
Customs dutics on tools and other
equopment nceessary for operatong a
manufacturing plnnt are also waivcd.
Capotalizong on its reputauon as a 1ax
haven and also on its cconomic.and po·
litical stabihly, lhe Bahamas is hoping 10
altract more industry 10 further broaden
ols cconomic base whicb in the past has
been somewhat hmoled.
Self-sufficiency In Food a Major Goal
Dunng 1976 the government IS e•–
pccung 10 see sorne raptd development
of cooperauves on farming and fishmg
The c:ooperahve method of development
thnves on the onotiative of the pcople
¡otncd woth 3S$L,tancc from the governmcnt.
In his radio interview Mr. Pindling
a lso stnted that lhe govcmmcnt had
lcnrncd sorne lessons from the yca~
1974 nnd 197S. "They taught u;," he
wid, " that we have got to bolster our–
sclvc:s agninst adverse worldwide ~'Ondo­
uon;, and partocularly to do more 10
produce our own food."
The Bahamas. not unlike other ISiand
nations. IS espeaally vulnerable to thc
forccs at ,.ork on 1he mternauonal mar–
ket Mr. Pondhng expressed concern at
whal moght happen tf lherc wcrc to be
subsl3ntial incrcases in oil pric~ or tf
there were to be major worldwade
drought. "1 fecl tha• if tbere were any
~ubstanllal new mcreases in oil pnces.
the economies of most nations on the
West would oollapse. We hcrc on thc
Bahamas would be very hard
pressed . • ."
Also. any maJO' instabihty 111 thc
world food suuation could affcct thc
Bahamas seriously, according lo Mr.
Pondhng. ··severe drougbt that would
force Russia or China again 10 buy largc
quanuues of wbeal and c:om and olhcr
agncultural produas c:ould bave an ef–
fcct nn the pnce of rice (a Bahamoan
staple~ sugar. flour, and tbmgs W.e
that" Govemment plans call for lhc Baba–
mas to be sclf-sufficient '" food by 1980.
Mr. Pondhng spoke of devclopong
11\hong. and the govemment plans to ex–
tend loons 10 ftshermen 10 buy or buold
boats. Though tbe prime ministcr did
nol menuon it directly. acoording tO an–
othcr government source therc is at lcMt
the po~;sibili ty that the Bahamas may
derive sorne technical assistancc from
Cuba on devcloping its lishing industry.
Cuban llelp
On the overall ISSue of relatoons woth
Cub.l Mr. Paul Adderley. Babamtan Ex-
6
Commonweafth of
TheBahama
lslands
tcrnal Afralrs MintSter. in a rettnl mtcr–
voew on lhe M~ami Huald saod thal the
Bahamas lS prepared 10 enter mto dos–
cussoons with lhc Castro regome. The Ba–
bamas go•cmment stipulated that such
d1SCUS.S1ons must be in thc contexs of an
eventual agrecment by the Law of lhc
Sea Conference on the "archopclagoc
pnncoplc." According to thos prccepl
mulll-lsland states would bavc sovcr..
eign1y over all water$ within an arca
encloscd by Straight lines connccting the
outermost parts of allthe islnnds.
Fe!Hing the politica l implicatoon;. of
the governmenl talking wilh Cuba. sorne
Bnhamoans have expn:ssed concc:rn. On
January 12. 1976, a front-page edotonal
on one of the two daily newspapcrs on
Na<aau carncd the headlinc •'Turning 10
Castro. " Butthe government denoes they
are turnong to Cuba. The governmtnt's
pos1110n seems to be that a titile talkong
nevcr hurlS anyonc, cspcctally when
onc's own sntcrests are at stake.
Relatlons with the
Uniled S tates
There has also been cooccrn tn thc
United Sta tes over U.S.-Sahumoan reln–
tioos. but Mr. Addcrley aflirmed lhat
lhe Bahnmas has always had close rela–
to ns with thc Unned Statcs: " 1suppo~;e
rclntoons wnh the United States have
been c loser cuhurally and economJcally
than thty wore wilh the Uooted Kong–
don! and much more so than any othcr
former Caribbean depcndency of thc
Unoted Kongdom. Nothinghas happcned
sonce tndepcndence 10 change lhat tn
any fashoon."
Th1S genuone fritndly feellng of the
Bahamoan peoplc for lhe Unoted States
wa~ ollustrated on the Junkanoo parad<.
January l, 1976. The Junkanoo parade
is advertised by the Minislry ofTourism
3> "a ka leidoscope of sound and spc"'
taclc oombining a bit of Mardi Oras.
Mumrncr's Parade and ancient Afncan
trobal ritua ls ." This year. thc parade had
an A mcr•can Bicentennial theme. The
partocJpanL\ wore towering crepc paper
costumes depicting American themcs.
The Bahamas governmcot has
planned a senes of Bicenlennial!>alutes
whtch w1ll culmonate on July 4th recep–
toons for U.S. visiton; in 1hc Bahamas.
Seventy-Rve percent of 1he Bahamas'
annual VISIIOr 10131 comes from the
Unned States. lnlerestir.gly. th< Baba–
mas os the .cvenlh largest contribulor of
vosotors 10 the Unned States.
But even among brothen; and the best
of fncnds there are somctimes dJs·
ngreemcnts. This os true of the Unotcd
States aod thc Babamas as well. Ourong
thc summcr of 1975, discussions be·
twcen them about lishing rights for U.S.
fiohermcn ended in failure.
Another aren of concem between thc
two governments is lhe future of sevcral
Amencan bases on Andros. Eleuthera.
and Grand Bahama. Mr. Adderlcy
stntcd that of an agreement over the
bases was tmpossoble, the United Slatcs
could be asked to g~ve up the bases. Tbe
maon difficulty seems 10 be ovcr how
much the Unoted Slatcs os wolling to pa)
pcr year for the use of the base;.. A
rchable source Slated lhat 25 molhon
dollars was mentioned by an unnamcd
souroc in the U.S. governmenL Appar–
ently thos amount is not acccptablt to
thc government of the Bahamas. Thc
fina l dccJsion as lo whether the U.S. will
be asked to give up 1he bases will de–
pend, nccording 10 Mr. Adderley. oo
how "reasonnble the United Statt.\ is."
"Fricndship Toward All - MaJíee
To,.ard None"
In spote of the preceding poonts of
d•sagroemcnt, thc govemment of the
Bahamas IS tn no way hostile toward !he
Unued State.. lt. too, secms 10 have the
pohcy that the U.S. once bad when ot
was a young. developong nation :
"frocndship toward all. mahce toward
nonc.''
There are sognificant areas ofcoopera–
IJOn betwccn the two govemmcnls. f'or
onstanoc. the United States is allowed to
mamtnm a prcfHght immig.ration and
customs clearance facility at the Na>sau
lntcroauonal Airport fo r pcrsons Hyong
10 Minmi by <X>mmercial airlines. Also
there os cooperauon in tracking and ar–
rcstJng drug trafficken;.
Thc U.S. govcmment would natural!}
be concerned. as would 1he Amenean
people. if the Bahamas became ahgned
to nny extent wich Cuba. Howcver. onc
must remember lhat from thc poon t of
view of the govemment of the Bahamas.
ol would not be wise to be unfriendly to
Cubn merely because it is a commumsl
country.
The rauonale of Bahamas being opcn
10 talks wuh Cuba is lhis: The Bahama>
has two near nctgllbors: Cuba and the
Unued Statcs. Thc best policy is 10 try to
maJntatn fntndshop w11h both. Tbe MI–
ami Huald reporter asked Mr. Ad·
derley: ~lf th<re have beco no practocal
effccu from cstablisbmg relations Wlth
Cuba, why do so?"
Mr Addtrley's answcr was: ~wen.
they are perhaps lhc closest gcographo·
ca l ncighbor to the Bahamas, even
closer than the Unued States. and we
bclievc it os in our ontercst to be ablc to
resolve on a friendly basis any liule
problcms thut arise with ommediate
neoghbors."
Eduea tion and Taxalion
One maJO' domestic problem now
facong the 831\amian gov~mment lS how
to support a rapod incrtase in tbe num–
ber of pupols enrolled in govemm~nt
schools. Pnor to 1971. free eduéiUIOn
V.85 provoded ID govemment SChools &S
far :'1\ grade 10. At that time the econ–
omy was boomong and many jobs were
avaolable for those who lefl scbool at 1hc
end of the tenth grade. In 1971. how–
ever. the governmcnt extended free edu–
calJon to onclude grade 12. By then !he
economy was beginn ing to slow down.
and l'ewer and fewer pupils were drop–
ping out of school a t grade 10. b<.-cause
¡obs .-ere not avaolablc. In fact 1here ha>
beco a 54% oncrease in scbool cnroll–
mtnt tn government schools during lhe
last ten years. Enrollment on 1965 wa~
29.S09; on 1974, 4S.007.
In 1974. Pnme MiniSter Pmdling.
spca~ong 10 bankers in Nassau. stated
the government's mtenlion not to trnple–
ment an onc:ome l;lx. He pragmatically
stated. though. that "roads and hospotals
have 10 be paod for. wbelher on a taJe
haven or m an industrial state .~ So 1t
would not be strnnge if. in the ncar fu–
ture. thc govcrnmcnt fcels it necessary to
impose some kind of income tax. How
lhtll would aft'ect lhe coun1ry's position
as a flnancial ccnter is not known.
A Y oung Natíon
The Commonwealth of lhe Bahamas
os J young natoon. lts pcople are young.
more than half of t.bem being under 24
years old. lt has lhe youth and •·ogor
whoeh, of propcrly hamessed. can cffect
the reahty of the proud phrase from
theor national anthem, "Pressong on–
ward. march toge1her. 10 a common. lof-
toer goal ..
lts government and leaders must con–
unue to shun the ftamboyance so char–
ncteristic of sorne Third World leadcrs.
They must strivc to prevent the polariza·
tion of thought which cnn cause human
nature 10 erupt into destructive violence
and thus bring down a ll that countless
yean; of patoence has buih.
Th= things can be accomplished by
all Bahamoans working 1ogether. cooper–
a long and prtssong ooward. buildong a
bener Bahamas. o
MARCH 1976