Caribbean Region: Review of Economic Growth and ... - USITC

Government of the Republic of Haiti 8In his testimony, the Republic of Haiti’s ambassador to the United States, Raymond Joseph,described the government of Haiti’s desire for the United States to “take another look” atHOPE and put into place an expanded HOPE that would last for 10 years. Haiti is halfwaythrough the three-year term of HOPE, and at present has added only 5,600 jobs, just morethan one-quarter of the 20,000 jobs it expected from HOPE. Furthermore, these jobs are atfactories that were already existing before enactment of HOPE; they were created throughnew investments. Haiti would like to see an enhanced HOPE enacted that would reduceuncertainty for investors.Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas 9In a written submission, C.A. Smith, the Commonwealth of The Bahamas’ ambassador,stated that The Bahamas are a service-oriented economy dominated by tourism (40 percentof GDP over the last five years) and financial services (15 percent of GDP over the last fiveyears). The United States is its largest trading partner, recently accounting for 84 percentof its imports and 63 percent of its exports (mainly seafood, plastics, and polystyreneproducts). In 2004, approximately $637 million of exports from The Bahamas were givenpreferential treatment from CBI. Most FDI in The Bahamas is from the United States andis concentrated in tourism sector facilities.He noted that the country’s tourism industry is highly dependent on economic conditionsin the countries from which tourists originate. Fifty percent of tourists are from the UnitedStates, and the industry has been affected by the United States’ Western Hemisphere TravelInitiative. The depreciation of the U.S. and Bahamian dollars is expected to increase thenumber of tourists from other countries.The submission also indicated that the financial services landscape in The Bahamas ischaracterized by a favorable tax regime and legislative environment. In 2000, legislation wasenacted to bring The Bahamas’ regulatory and supervisory regime on par with the bestinternational financial standards and practices. Also, the government of The Bahamasintends to introduce an excise tax regime in the near future, as excise taxes are normallyoutside the scope of international trade negotiations.The Bahamas would like to see continued duty-free access to the United States from theCaribbean, and would like an early decision regarding this due to the importance ofinvestment in the economic development of the archipelago. Further, The Bahamas supportsCARICOM’s position that CBTPA should be included in CBERA and extended to allmember states of CARICOM.8His Excellency Raymond Alcide Joseph, ambassador of the Republic of Haiti to the United States,testimony before the U.S. International Trade Commission, January 29, 2008. For more information on theGovernment of Republic of Haiti see http://www.haiti.org.9His Excellency C.A. Smith, ambassador of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, written submission,February 5, 2008. For more information on the Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas seehttp://www.bahamas.gov.bs.5-5