The Minister of Home Affairs, the Hon. Alexa Lightbourne, JP, MP is aware of the comments and sentiments expressed by former parliamentarian Bob Richards.
And the Minister has moved to ensure clarity and balance regarding his views, which are largely his opinion.
Today Minister Lightbourne said, “Mr. Richards opinion is acknowledged, however, several of his claims are directly contradicted by the factual record.
“On the suggestion that CARICOM full membership poses a geopolitical risk to Bermuda's relationship with the United States: The Bahamas has been a full CARICOM member since 1983. It does not participate in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy. The United States maintains a $4.5 billion trade surplus with the Bahamas. In 43 years of full membership, the Bahamas has suffered no geopolitical penalty and its relationship with Washington has never been stronger. If full membership carried the risk Mr. Richards describes, we would have seen the evidence by now. We have not.
“On the assertion that Bermuda can already trade with CARICOM members and therefore gains nothing from full membership: access to a market is not the same as a seat at the table where the rules governing that market are written. CARICOM is building regional food security frameworks, supply chain resilience programmes, and collective trade negotiating positions. Associate members observe. Full members shape. The question is not whether Bermuda can buy produce from the Caribbean today, it’s whether Bermuda should have a voice in the institutional architecture that will determine supply chain reliability for the next generation.
“On the claim that CARICOM economies are too different from ours: CARICOM has never required economic homogeneity. The Bahamas, a tourism and financial services economy, sits alongside Trinidad's petrochemical sector, Guyana's oil economy, and Jamaica's diaspora economy. Bermuda’s strengths in financial services regulation and risk management are precisely what the region needs; the region's collective leverage on climate resilience, trade negotiation, and disaster preparedness is what we need.
“It is worth noting that Bermuda already sits alongside every CARICOM member state as a full member of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force, which we have chaired. No one has ever suggested that this Caribbean regional membership poses a geopolitical risk.
“The Green Paper and the Together for CARICOM website at TogetherforCaricom address each of these concerns with supporting evidence, data, and analysis. We encourage Mr. Richards, and all Bermudians, to review those materials and to submit feedback through the consultation's official channels. We welcome it, provided it proceeds on the basis of facts.”