Dean of the Diplomatic Corps Dean of the Honorary Consular Corps Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps Members of the Honorary Consular Corps Special Guests Ladies and Gentlemen Friends, Good Afternoon, A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. 1. This is the aspiration of the pragmatic Foreign Policy of The Bahamas, and the lessons from the opportunities of interaction in the global arena despite its many challenges. These challenges include, not least, the economic and financial crises with which a majority of States continues to grapple, including The Bahamas, and, the “hot spots” and “hot issues” from which no State is ultimately immune in an interdependent world. This is, therefore, the backdrop of this year for my reflections with you, on the focus, conduct and promulgation of the Foreign Policy of The Bahamas for 2011. I shall also this time attempt to be a bit ambitious and reveal some hopes for the future. Excellencies, Honorary Consuls, Ladies and Gentlemen, Diplomatic and Consular Representation 2 I shall begin, however, with an update on an overview of The Bahamas Diplomatic and Consular Representation. We bid farewell to various members of the resident Diplomatic Corps, namely Ambassadors Guggenheim of Brazil, HU of China, Ponce of Cuba, and, Avant of the United States. We have had the pleasure of welcoming to the Diplomatic Community, Resident Ambassadors Veras, HU and Guzman of Brazil, China and Cuba, respectively. We look forward to the continuation of our productive relationship and the advancement of our mutual interests with these most recent, and with you all. Among non-Resident Ambassadors, credentials were received for Representatives of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Republic of Ghana, Ireland, the State of Israel, the Republic of Namibia, the Kingdom of Norway, the Republic of South Africa, and, the Kingdom of Sweden. We look forward to the replacements for non- Resident Ambassadors Manik of the Republic Indonesia and Rueda of the United Mexican States, who have also completed their tours of duty. The Diplomatic List of total Ambassadors accredited to The Bahamas now stands at one hundred and five (105). 3. It is anticipated that there will be new accreditations in 2012 from: the Plurinational State of Bolivia, the Delegation of the European Union, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of Austria, the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Republic of Indonesia, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Swiss Confederation and Barbados. The Bahamas has also the pleasure of welcoming new members to the Honorary Consular Corps: Mr. Isacc Chester Cooper, representing the Slovak Republic, and, Mr. Gonzalo Bolisay, representing the Republic of the Philippines. As regards International Organization representation, Dr. Merle Lewis, who completed her term of office in July, has been replaced by Dr. Gerarda Eijkemans. We certainly wish to welcome Dr. Ejkemans. 4. There have been developments with Bahamian representation abroad: H.E. Paul Farquharson, High Commissioner of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was appointed non-resident Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic. Incidentally, The Bahamas is also in the process of upgrading our Honorary Consulate there to that of a career Consular 1 Mission. H.E. Elma Campbell, Ambassador of The Bahamas to the People‟s Republic of China, was named non-resident Ambassador to the People‟s Republic of Bangladesh, the Republic of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Republic of the Philippines, the Republic of Singapore and the Republic of Korea. Ms. Rhoda Jackson and Mrs. Rhonda Chipman-Johnson were named Consuls-General in Miami and New York, respectively. The Bahamas also named Honorary Consuls to the Kingdom of Denmark and the Kingdom of Norway. International Meetings 5. International Meetings, multilaterally, regionally and sub-regionally, were of particular import for The Bahamas, as well as the international community, this year. 6. Multilaterally, there was the General Assembly of the United Nations at its Sixty-Sixth Regular Session in New York, and, the biennial Twenty-Second Meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM), in Perth, Australia. I had the privilege of leading The Bahamas Delegation at both Meetings. In respect of the former, once again I had the honour of delivering the National Statement during the United Nations General Debate. The Sixty-Sixth Session was historic for the world and our sub- Region. This was because, arguably the most politically significant development at this Session was the formal request of the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas for full United Nations membership for Palestine. 7. Of note in the multilateral context, was the re-election of The Bahamas, 25th November, 2011, to the Council of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Category „C‟. This category comprises twenty (20) IMO States elected on the basis of special interests in maritime transport or navigation and whose election to the Council would ensure the representation of all major geographic areas of the world. Category „A‟, limited to ten (10) States, refers to the States with the largest interest in providing shipping services. Category „B‟, limited to ten (10) States, as well, refers to the States with the largest interest in international seaborne trade. 8. I also believe it is noteworthy that in the context of maritime safety, The Bahamas remains on the White List of every Port State Control (PSC) Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). 9. For the Caribbean sub-Region, the historic achievement, during this UN General Assembly, was the convening of the High-Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), 19th to 20th September, 2011. This Meeting originated in a mandate of the Caribbean Heads of Government to the CARICOM Ambassadors/Permanent Representatives to the United Nations, arising out of their September 2007 Declaration of Port-of-Spain, “Uniting to Stop the Epidemic of Chronic NCDs” and the “Healthy Caribbean Coalition” strategy document. The High-Level Meeting was attended by more than thirty (30) Heads of State and Government, and, at least one hundred (100) other senior Ministers and experts. The Meeting adopted a Political Declaration which for the first time elevated and prioritized, as a national strategy, a multi-pronged approach by Governments, Industry and Civil Society, to set up by 2013, the plans needed to curb the risk factors underpinning the four (4) categories of NCDs, namely: cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic lung diseases, and, diabetes. 10. At the High-Level Meeting on NCDs, The Bahamas was represented by the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister, whose presence emphasized the importance which The Bahamas has placed on the NCD epidemic, given its prevalence, unfortunately, in our society. The Bahamas, consequently, remains active in efforts to engage international partners, such as the Pan-American and World Health Organizations to combat the deleterious impact of these diseases. 11. Other High-Level Meetings prioritized by the United Nations during the current Sixty-Sixth UN General Assembly Session, were: the High-Level Meeting on the theme, “Addressing Desertification, Land 2 Degradation and Drought in the Context of Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication”; the High- Level Meeting on Durban +10 Review; and, the High-Level Meeting on Nuclear Safety and Security. 12. In the margins of the General Assembly, The Bahamas Delegation also participated in various Meetings, which primarily took stock of recent developments and were a major stage in preparing for significant, upcoming, global and regional negotiations, such as the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, the Seventeenth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), commonly known as the Kyoto Protocol, and for the G-20. These side Meetings included: the Fourteenth Informal Consultations of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR); the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) Ministerial Meeting; the Commonwealth Foreign Ministers Meeting; the CARICOM UN Security Council Resolution 1540 Programme-University of Georgia-Centre for International Trade Statistics (CITS) Exchange; the Informal Meeting of the Global Governance Group (3G); and the African Union Ministerial Conference on the Diaspora. 13. At the UN General Assembly, I also had Bilateral Meetings with the Foreign Ministers of the Kingdom of Bhutan, Georgia and the Republic of Slovenia, dealing essentially, despite general exchanges, with requests for Bahamas support of their candidatures to important UN Bodies. 14. Also, in the wider context of the UN‟s international security agenda to prohibit weapons of mass destruction and to cast a universal „safety net‟ for, and, international vigilance and prosecution of, perpetrators of terrorism, The Bahamas participated in the Twelfth Regional and Thirteenth Annual International Meetings of National Authorities under the UN Chemical Weapons Convention, organized by the Technical Secretariat of the UN Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), in Buenos Aires, 27th to 29th September, and, The Hague, 25th to 26th November, respectively. 15. Still in the multilateral context, I headed The Bahamas Delegation in the stead of the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister, to the Twenty-Second Meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM), in Perth, Australia,