- Baroness Chapman to visit The Bahamas as part of her first visit to the Western Caribbean
- Minister meeting with Prime Minister Philip Davis KC to formally sign series of UK-Bahamas trade deals
- UK-Bahamas trade relationship worth $5bn per year
The UK Minister for the Caribbean, Baroness Chapman is in The Bahamas today.
While in Nassau, the Minister met Prime Minister Philip Davis KC to discuss formally our bilateral partnership, and our shared priority of growing our economies, empowering our young people, and fighting the climate and nature crises.
The Minister and Prime Minister announced a series of new trade deals between the UK and The Bahamas, that will see UK businesses including Manchester Airport Group and Amey PLC awarded contracts for work to operator Freeport Airport, and rebuild Glass Window Bridge.
In a demonstration of the growing UK-Bahamas trade relationship, Baroness Chapman was also able to announce that Amey PLC, the firm behind construction of the M1 and the rebuilding of Liverpool Lime Street, will be making Nassau the home of its first ever office in the Americas.
The firm will hire and train Bahamian engineers and project managers, and connect Bahamian companies with British expertise to win contracts across the Caribbean and USA.
The current trade relationship between the UK and The Bahamas amounts to $5bn a year, making the UK one of The Bahamas' most significant trade partners.
UK Caribbean Minister, Baroness Chapman said:
The UK-Bahamas relationship is going from strength to strength.
The deals I am announcing alongside the Right Honourable Philip Davis here this week will see British businesses deliver essential infrastructure projects for The Bahamas, and invest directly in The Bahamas.
They are a further illustration of our growing partnership, as we continue work to deliver growth and prosperity for the people of both our nations.
I look forward to continuing to deepen our ties from trade to climate during my time in The Bahamas.
During her visit, Baroness Chapman also met Minister of Education and Technical and Vocational Training, Glenys Hanna-Martin, where she formally handed over 10,000 pages of historic documents pertaining to Bahamian Independence, that have been stored in the National Archives in the UK.
The documents have also been digitised and will be made available by The Bahamas' National Archive, which will increase access and public understanding of the process undertaken to achieve independence by students both in The Bahamas and the UK.
Following a visit to a coral reef to see the work local NGOs are doing to preserve an important ecological area, the Minister toured the University of The Bahamas, where she took part in a roundtable alongside environmental science students, academics and NGOs focused on the impact of climate change on The Bahamas.
Finally, the Minister visited the Forensics department of The Royal Bahamas Police Force and met two senior female officers who were recipients of the UK Chevening scholarship, and who received formal UK forensics training.
