Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Tom Kelly travels to The Bahamas July 8-10 for consultations with senior officials on a wide range of political-military issues and to launch a series of information sharing and technical assistance agreements to meet shared security challenges through strengthened military and law enforcement cooperation.
On Tuesday, July 9, Acting Assistant Secretary Kelly will join Bahamian officials to sign a new Memorandum of Understanding on Counter-Piracy, which will establish new cooperative mechanisms for the prosecution of suspected pirates. As the 2013 chair of The Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, the United States welcomes this new agreement with The Bahamas, which is a major flag registry state, as well as a source of mariners working in the global shipping industry.
Acting Assistant Secretary Kelly will also sign the Memorandum of Understanding for the Cooperative Situational Information Integration initiative. This agreement will support improved regional domain awareness and information sharing among participating Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) partners and citizen security efforts against transnational threats such as illicit trafficking.
Acting Assistant Secretary Kelly will also attend an official celebration of The Bahamas’ 40th Anniversary of Independence during his visit to Nassau.
Source: U.S. Embassy Nassau