Bahamas closer to aircraft registry

Bahamas closer to aircraft registry
Minister of Tourism and Aviation Dionisio D'Aguilar. (FILE PHOTO)
NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The Bahamas is moving closer to the establishment of an aircraft registry, according to Tourism and Aviation Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar.
“It’s taken a while to negotiate with an entity to assist us in establishing an aircraft registry,” said D’Aguilar in a recent interview.
“Obviously there are a number of jurisdictions in the world that have very successful aircraft registries and there are probably three companies in the world that have assisted those countries in establishing their aircraft registry. We had to do an RFP and then had to evaluate and then negotiate an MOU.”
He continued: “We had to get Cabinet approval and are now awaiting final approval from the office of the Attorney General. That should be forthcoming shortly.  We haven’t spent dollar on it yet so we have just  gone through the process of preparing ourselves.
“One of the perquisites of establishing an aircraft registry is that we  have some changes to our aviation sector. They are going to help us make those changes. We have a ship registry and there are a lot of Bahamian flagged ships around the world.
The government has signed an agreement with Aviation Registry Group to develop The Bahamas’ registry.
“This is a way to generate revenue,” he added.
“This is a product that you can sell. For high net worth individuals that come here and have used The Bahamas for business and deposited their wealth, this is another offering we can have.  We feel that we can move into this business and there are a lot of advantages to The Bahamas.”
According to attorney Llewellyn Boyer-Cartwright, a leading proponent of the Bahamas establishing an international aircraft registry, an international registry will be a bonus to this nation’s financial services products, allowing for this to rank favorably among the most desired offshore financial jurisdictions.