Bahamas PM: Creative Industries Must Feed Into Main Economic Pillars

With 60 percent of the Bahamian population under the age of 30 and a propensity for our youth for the pursuit of excellence in sports, art, music and cultural endeavours, Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie stated at the 2015 Caribbean Investment Summit that “we must find ways to invest more in the creative industries that can feed into our main economic pillars and develop sustainable linkages across sectors of our economy."

In his address of the summit in London, September 10, the Prime Minister said the climate is ripe for inward investment in the Caribbean.

He noted, a "substantial" amount of foreign direct investment must continue to build on the traditional sectors such as tourism, financial services, business service outsourcing, fisheries and agro-processing -- where the Caribbean has a competitive advantage. He observed that foreign investors are now venturing into previously unexplored sectors of the economies like natural resources, infrastructure, energy, manufacturing, real estate, transport, telecommunications, stem cell research and medical tourism, which, he said, as a single market develops will reap real rewards over the long term.

The region, he affirmed, provides competitive advantages of accessibility, economic and political stability, adequate labour supply, modern infrastructure, robust investment incentive frameworks and trade facilitation, with some preferential access to markets through its trade agreements with Europe, the United States and Canada: "Consequently, there are many opportunities for inward investment, and promotional efforts in this direction are yielding good results."

The Prime Minister declared he remained convinced that “the tourism sector and its niche industries will continue to be the engine of economic growth, employment, human capital development, industry diversification and business improvement for most of the 40 million citizens of the Caribbean.”

(BIS Photos/Peter Ramsay)