U.S. Ambassador John Rood and Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell both confirmed on Tuesday that the U.S. pre-clearance facility is here to stay.
Speaking at a press conference at the U.S. pre-clearance facility at the Grand Bahama International Airport Ambassador Rood said after reviewing the governmentﾒs concerns that closing down the facility would hurt the islandﾒs economy and tourism product, and the facilityﾒs benefits to the United States, American officials recommended keeping it open.
“The future of Freeport, the rebound of Freeport, after the devastating hurricanes is of concern to us and we want to make sure that recovery happens as soon as possible,” Ambassador Rood said.
“So we took those concerns into consideration when we made this decision. The secretary [of State Condoleezza Rice] recently visited The Bahamas and expressed her interests and desire to even grow closer with The Bahamas as well as the whole Caribbean region and you grow closer by increasing tiesﾅand making travel easier.”
Minister Mitchell reportedly articulated to Ms. Rice at a meeting last week the importance of the pre-clearance facility to the economic health of Grand Bahama.
“The concerns with regard to pre-clearance have been resolved, and I think we have some good news in that direction, which will help to secure the long-term future of this city and of this airport and its viability in Freeport,” Minister Mitchell said.
“There has been cooperation between the governments and the private sector and the Grand Bahama Port Authority and the [Grand Bahama] Airport Company have all been involved in addressing all the various concerns in connection with the airport and we are on our way to what I believe is a continued successful future,” he said.
The foreign minister and the ambassador also toured the Freeport Container Port while on the island and hailed the Megaports and Container Security Initiative (CSI) as a “win-win cooperation” between the U.S. and The Bahamas.
The Bahamas became the first country in the Caribbean to participate with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. Department of Energy and the Bahamas Ministry of Finance in December 2004.
The Megaports Programme uses specialized equipment to scan seagoing cargo containers for suspicious radioactive materials, while under CSI, U.S. Customs officials review container manifests and screen suspicious containers for weapons of mass destruction.
According to officials, both of these programmes provide incentives for shippers to use the Freeport Container Port since containers clearing the port will quickly enter the United States without requiring additional screening.
But the ambassador noted that some measures have to be in place for it to be considered fully operational.
“The equipment came about six months ago and it is operational right now. The only thing we havenﾒt fully resolved is the protocol in the event radioactive material was found, but we expect that protocol should be resolved in the next month or so,” he said.
“So itﾒs operating; weﾒve scanned 90 percent of the containers in the last three months, so itﾒs working, and theyﾒre working very well together, operators from the Container Port as well as people who work through Bahamian customsﾅtheyﾒre keeping an eye out for radioactive material,” he said.
Applauding these recent security initiatives, Minister Mitchell said although there is no threat that he knows of, the “the axiom is better safe than sorry” when it comes to the implementation of these programmes.
“In terms of the marketing strategy of Grand Bahama, the Freeport Container Port is an excellent set of tools to have becauseﾅit facilitates entry into ports in the U.S, and so thatﾒs a selling point that you can give to people who are using the port to have their goods pass through the port and it has the added point of security,” the minister said.
Freeport will be the 50th port to join CSI when it becomes operational in the next few weeks. While Freeport is one of six ports where Megaports is operational.
More than 20 ports are in the process of implementing Megaports, including Jamaica, which had representatives from its Customs Agency in Freeport to view the operations during Tuesdayﾒs tour.
By: Courtnee Romer, The Bahama Journal
