MORE FLIGHTS: OPM comms. dir. says gov’t will continue to promote country through travel

MORE FLIGHTS: OPM comms. dir. says gov’t will continue to promote country through travel
[FILE PHOTO]

Rahming says no one wanted Minnis at their event anyway

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Communications Director Latrae Rahming said the government has taken the position to travel to promote its climate change position and will seek to continue those global relations.

Latrae Rahming.

Rahming was responding to criticisms from former Prime Minister Hubert Minnis over the Davis administration’s excessive travel since coming into office.

He suggested however that while Minnis and his administration choose not that travel, this may have been because “there wasn’t a particular interest of having the former prime minister participate in any of the events by the global community”.

Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, Minnis pointed to the government’s constant traveling and insisted the administration seemed to have been caught off guard by the increase in crime.

He noted that while reports of crime were ”getting out of control”, the prime minister was “often out of the country”.

But Rahming said the government os of the view that as long as there are issues Impacting The Bahamas, it will capitalize on the opportunity to discuss the issues of climate change.

“The former administration decided that they won’t travel, that’s the foreign minister and the prime minister,” he said.

“We have a different view. There is an interest in The Bahamas on issues impacting the region, particularly on climate change, on social justice, on regional security and I think that there are areas and spaces The Bahamas can lead on the opportunity.

“We have said to the Bahamian people that we will use travel as an opportunity to attract investment and ensure that The Bahamas’ voice on critical issues is always present.”

He continued: “We believe it’s better to be in the room where our future is being discussed than [being] in The Bahamas.

“I think that is something that we are going to continue taking advantage of.”

Since coming to office the Davis administration has traveled to several global events, including the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland; Expo 2020 Dubai, UAE; and more recently the CARIFTA Aquatics and Track and Field games in Barbados and Jamaica respectfully.

The prime minister has also traveled to multiple high-level meetings with CARICOM and other national bodies.

About Sloan Smith

Sloan Smith is a senior digital reporter at Eyewitness News, covering a diverse range of beats, from politics and crime to environment and human interest. In 2018, Sloan received a nomination for the “Leslie Higgs Feature Writer of The Year Award” from The Bahamas Press Club for her work with Eyewitness News.