During a meeting at his Cable Beach office yesterday, Prime Minister Perry Christie accepted a donation from the U.S. government on behalf of hurricane victims in The Bahamas, and also used the opportunity to push for support for another effort.
U.S. Ambassador to The Bahamas John Rood presented a letter of commitment to the prime minister for a $59,000 donation for immediate hurricane relief. But Mr. Rood said it was only an initial commitment.
He noted that his government continues to work to bring relief to hurricane victims, even those who were impacted by hurricanes Frances and Jeanne more than a year ago.
The U.S. government through the U.S. Agency for International Development has donated $500,000 for the housing project in Grand Bahama.
“The [19] homes that are now under construction in Grand Bahama [the West End area] are proceeding and we had originally scheduled completion prior to the end of the year and I was hoping that we would have been able to be there and cut ribbons together, but it looks like it will now be, because of this recent storm, the end of January,” Mr. Rood said.
“But right now though we are faced with the aftermath of this most recent storm that swept through Grand Bahama and I want to express our deepest sympathy for the suffering and the tragedy that has taken place up there.”
Prime Minister Christie said the U.S. efforts are a signal of the continued strong relations between the Bahamas and the United States.
“I know how quickly you have responded to our needs,” he told the ambassador. “I know that you are providing a grant to us of some $600,000 that the Government of The Bahamas will match to have a headquarters for NEMA.”
Mr. Christie also noted that the U.S. government has also provided a grant for the construction of warehouses to store relief supplies and he said the government appreciated that effort as well.
Those warehouses, he said, will be placed strategically throughout the country.
The prime minister also urged U.S. support for a new Defence Force base the government intends to establish in Inagua.
“I’m hoping that having just visited Inagua that I would use this occasion to remind you that we committed ourselves several budgets ago to develop a port in Inagua,” the prime minister said, “that will be more effectively used by our country to interdict all of the criminals and criminal elements who come through the gateway that Inagau represents.
“What I’m going to ask really is that in the immediate future we are able to agree [on] some technical assistance where a decision could be made by my government with your assistance as to where best to locate the port.”
But Mr. Christie noted that the U.S. government continues to provide tremendous support in the fight against drug trafficking and human trafficking.
Ambassador Rood said when he first came to the Bahamas, United States President George W. Bush informed him that the need for the base is of concern to Prime Minister Christie.
“He’s asked me to monitor and see how we can be good neighbours and good partners and I think it’s timely to step back and to look at what’s the best type of port to construct, what’s the best type of harbour,” Mr. Rood said.
He said U.S. authorities are willing to help in “this process of evaluations”.
“Then we can work together to find the resources to make our dream a reality,” Mr. Rood said.
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
