Speeches

Farewell Remarks to the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce

by U.S. Ambassador John D. Rood
March 16, 2007, 12:30 p.m.
Ruby Swiss Restaurant

Thank you for that kind introduction.   I would like to recognize and thank Christopher Lowe, President of the Chamber, for generously hosting me today.  I would also like to recognize Rotary Presidents Don Churchill, Derrick Hanfield and Mike Stafford.  I appreciate the invitation to speak to you, and thank you for the support you have given me and the Embassy throughout my tenure.   

You may have heard me tell the story about when I first explained to my daughter Holly that I was asked become Ambassador to The Bahamas.  She asked me why I was interested in the job, and  I explained it was an opportunity to serve my country and a chance to really make a difference.  And besides, I said, they'll call me “Mr. Ambassador” -- that is just too cool to pass up.  “Dad,” she said, "Couldn't we just stay in Jacksonville, and I'll call you ‘Mr. Ambassador’?" 

Once the job was offered, though, I really couldn’t turn it down.  I have been a regular traveler to the beautiful Bahama Islands since I was a young boy.  But there was one day and one summer that I will never forget!  I was just down the road at West End in the summer of 1973 when The Bahamas gained its independence from the United Kingdom.

The joy, the excitement, and the look on the faces and in the eyes of the Bahamians I saw that day, and the pride that they expressed in becoming an independent nation!  That summer, that day, are etched in my memory.

What this event made clear to me was that the United States and The Bahamas share a love for democracy.  We share values -- the values of freedom, security, and prosperity for our people.  We also share dreams, a future of promise for our children our families. 

Our commercial relationship could not be stronger.  The United States does about 2 billion dollars of merchandise trade with The Bahamas each year.  Eighty-five percent of all Bahamian trade is with the U.S., and most Bahamian purchases of third-country exports are acquired through American distributors.   Florida is particularly well-connected with the Bahamas – with 1.4 billion dollars in trade with Florida alone.  The Bahamas is Florida’s #19 trading partner, and #13 export destination -- more than Canada, more than China and - I know the Bahamians here will particularly appreciate this – much more than Jamaica.

This trade is not only one-way – especially if one considers trade in services.  The Bahamas trades us its beautiful beaches, weather and hospitality, welcoming 4 million American tourists – 80% of its tourism market -- to The Bahamas each year.   Not only does this show the strong market for American business in The Bahamas, it shows the love that Americans have for The Bahamas. 

The more I have been able to learn about and explore issues facing the Bahamas and the United States in the world today, the more I am convinced of the importance of the connections between the Bahamas and the United States.  Whether  we are thwarting drug traffickers or migrant smugglers,  protecting our environment, promoting literacy and education, our working together in the United Nations to build respect for human rights, we need to work together.  We are separated by only 50 miles of ocean from one another, but in friendship and in spirit, we are not separated at all.

President Bush rightly states that the United States is a caring and compassionate nation.  Having decided with my daughter Holly that I would take the job as Ambassador, it was important to me to show that care and compassion.  And as I began my tenure, I remember a conversation I had with the Governor General, Dame Ivy Dumont, when I first called on her.  I promised to listen and learn from Bahamians and then act to act to build our relationship.

I hope I have been successful in that.  I have tried hard to build relationships with Bahamians and to establish The Embassy as a willing listener and community contributor.  I have sought to reach out to the educational community and to the many civic minded groups dealing with HIV/AIDS.  Within the Embassy, I tried to encourage a sense of volunteerism, a respect for Bahamian concerns and culture, and sincere friendship with the Bahamian people.  

And as I look back on my tenure, I think back on the relationships that I made and the partnerships built.  I think of the good work we have done with the Rhode Island State Partnership program, connecting our nations in a series of cooperative projects including university level education, disaster preparedness, training for prison officers and firefighters, and tourism promotion.  

“I believe in Grand Bahama”

I think back on our mutual support in the face of  natural disaster.  We were pleased to be able to lend a helping hand to the people of Grand Bahama in response to Hurricanes Frances and Jean in 2004, providing immediate relief with water and critical supplies and then building new, hurricane resistant homes for Grand Bahamians in the West End.  When Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf coast the next year, you, the people of the Bahamas, came to our aid.  I cannot tell you how moved I was by the outpouring of financial and moral support from The Bahamas after that disaster.

I look back on my tenure as Ambassador and think of the millions of dollars in training and equipment provided to support the outstanding collaboration we enjoy through OPBAT with Bahamian law enforcement and the Defense Force.   Our DEA, CBP and Coast Guard have worked closely here in Grand Bahama with Assistant Commissioner Greenslade, just as we do in Nassau with Commissioner Farquharson.  We also look forward to working more closely with Commodore Scavella and the RBDF to help strengthen the Defense Force's ability to help protect the Bahamas from drug and migrant smugglers.

I look back and  reflect with satisfaction on my efforts to ensure the continuation of the U.S. Customs Pre-clearance facility in Grand Bahama, which will help support your storm-ravaged economy.  I firmly believe in the future of Grand Bahama, and our decision to keep Pre-clearance open in Grand Bahama, despite lower tourist traffic, demonstrates our faith in the people of Grand Bahama.

We have also deepened our commitment to Grand Bahamas through our decisions to establish both Megaports screening and the Container Security Initiative at the Freeport port.  These two programs will protect both the United States and The Bahamas, and make Freeport a more attractive port for international shipping. 

Through these initiatives and others, I hope that I have left the U.S.-Bahamas relationship even closer than it was when I came.  And I also hope that I have strengthened the special ties between Grand Bahama, whose past and future is so closely linked with the United States.  Any Ambassador who can look back as I can in this way must be happy with his tenure, as indeed I am.

Looking to the Future

The strong bilateral cooperation between the United States and The Bahamas, built on personal relationships and mutual respect, has also led to better international cooperation on key issues like human rights and democracy.  In fact, last year The Bahamas stood out at the 2006 Non-Aligned Meeting for its support for democratic rule and human rights.    The Bahamas also stood alone among its Caribbean peers in its support for key human rights resolutions in the UN in late 2006.  The Bahamas should rightly be proud of its standing in the word as a beacon and testimony to the potential for democracy and freedom.    It is vital that the Bahamas continues to stand up on the world stage for the values Bahamians believe in:  for democratic elections, a free press, the rule of law, freedom of expression and religion.  These are values we share and values we must work together to promote, for there are far too many places in the world where these rights we take for granted do not exist.   

Another area where we must continue to deepen our cooperation is in aviation security.  The Federal Aviation Administration and Transportation Security Administration have been outstanding partners with The Bahamas, donating time and resources to assist with aviation safety and airport security management.  For example, when Grand Bahamas lost its airport radar from the 2004 hurricanes, the FAA stepped in to provide an emergency tower that is still in use.

Similarly, the FAA has for years helped manage the airspace in the Bahamas to ensure safe air traffic control of flights to and through the Bahamas.  The Bahamian government has expressed interest in exercising greater control of this airspace, and FAA has indicated its interest and willingness to partner with the Bahamas in a new way that will allow The Bahamas to benefit more from controlling its airspace, while ensuring the highest safety for air travelers that would come from a management partnership with FAA.  I am hopeful that we will be able to continue this partnership that brings so many intangible benefits of collaboration with the FAA.  We have been in the early stages of discussions on this matter, and hope to move forward in the weeks and months ahead.  Such a new partnership in this vital area will allow us both to use FAA’s expertise to ensure that Bahamian skies remain safe and secure.

Another area where we need to continue to focus attention is in our common efforts to improve security at airports and ports to close existing gaps that could allow drug traffickers, illegal migrants and, potentially, terrorists to reach the United States or target Americans in The Bahamas.  Following the arrests of corrupt baggage handlers bypassing security to place drugs aboard planes bound for the U.S., I am appreciative of the seriousness with which the Bahamian government is responding to these concerns.  Incidentally, of the six baggage handlers arrested in the United States last year, five have already pleaded guilty after seeing the evidence against them.   

I expect in the years ahead that U.S.-Bahamas international cooperation will continue to deepen and expand as we seek to address the new threats to international stability and prosperity.   Weak democratic institutions are the root cause of many of the recurring political crises that have plagued the most troubled countries in our Hemisphere.  Haiti offers the clearest example.  Here, too, The Bahamas and the United States can work together, nationally or as a part of CARICOM, to help build democratic institutions there and re-establish the rule of law.  The Bahamas deserves praise for its willingness to support the new government by providing training for Haitian police at the Bahamas Police Training Center.  Still, more assistance will be needed in carrying forward reform and training for law enforcement, strengthening the judiciary, implementing anti-corruption programs, promoting economic growth, and protecting human rights. 


We live in a time of grave threats to the security of our nations—indeed, to our very lives, from terrorists, rogue states, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.  Most frightening is the possibility that terrorists could obtain a weapon of mass destruction from an outlaw regime.  The genie is out of the bottle.  North Korea tested a nuclear weapon this fall.  Iran seems determined to enrich uranium as the first step to acquiring nuclear weapons.  Another significant danger is the proliferation of missile systems.  The traffic in ballistic missile technologies between North Korea and Iran is longstanding. 

The United States had led international efforts against the proliferation of both weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.  We appreciate the support The Bahamas has provided us in the United Nations when it comes to condemning proliferation.  And we appreciate the work done here in Grand Bahama to help us protect shipping against such threats.  The Megaports and CSI programs, which help protect the Port from terrorist activities with the help of millions of dollars of high-tech equipment provided by the United States, are wonderful programs that keep your Port, and our two nations' borders, safe.  But we can and need to do more. 

Through the Proliferation Security Initiative, the United States and a number of global partners have agreed to work together to search planes, ships, trains, and trucks suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction or WMD components.  All actions taken under this initiative are consistent with existing national and international legal authorities.  I would like to see the United States and The Bahamas finalize a PSI agreement.  The Bahamas has the third largest ship registry in the world and is a key player in maritime commerce.  It is critical for The Bahamas to be part of the PSI to prevent the transshipment of WMD and WMD-related materials around the world on Bahamian-flagged vessels.  I hope we can finalize this agreement before I complete my tenure or as soon as possible thereafter.

As we move forward in strengthening democracy in the Western Hemisphere, I also hope that we can work closely with The Bahamas to help ensure that the Cuban people can soon enjoy the basic rights to free expression, association, assembly, privacy, movement, and due process of law that the American people and the Bahamian people enjoy and insist on.  We cannot quietly accept that our neighbors -- separated by less than 90 miles of sea -- should be denied those basic rights.  As Cuba moves closer to the ultimate day of transition, it is my hope that a country such as the Bahamas, which so deeply cherishes free expression, free movement, and due process, would work with us and other countries in the hemisphere to ensure that the Cuban people have the opportunity to select their next leader at the ballot box -- just as Bahamians and Americans do -- rather than having another leader imposed on them without their democratic consent. 

In short, the world needs a respected Caribbean leader like The Bahamas to become an ever more vocal international advocate for democracy, peace and stability.

As we move forward in addressing these international and regional challenges together, I am confident that The Bahamas and the U.S. will maintain the deepest of friendships.  I hope to see the reading program that has been one of the great joys of my tenure continue.  I know that the Rhode Island-Bahamas State Partnership Program will grow and flourish.   I look forward to our coming Business Outlook Conference, and the participation of Rhode Island in that conference. 

I believe, building on the work I have done and that of my many predecessors, that our countries will continue to have open, direct and respectful dialogue – where the U.S. listens, learns, and acts in the spirit of friendship and mutual interest. 

It was a tough decision to leave The Bahamas – and knowing when to go is a bit of an art form.  But as I told Tom Shannon, the State Department’s Senior Official for Western Hemisphere Affairs, it is better to go out a bit too early at your own choice, than a bit too late when you’ve been asked to go!  But my real reason for leaving is found at the beginning of my remarks, when I mentioned that my daughter Holly had asked me to stay home.  It has been difficult to be away from Holly, and it is time for me to go back to be with her and reengage with my life in Jacksonville.  I will certainly miss my home here, my many friends, including each of you, and the incredible people at the Embassy.  This experience has been wonderful.  I have been blessed to have been given this opportunity and I am grateful to President Bush for the chance.  Perhaps it will help if I ask Holly to do as she originally offered and call me “Mr. Ambassador” around the house.

My favorite project here, my school reading program, started with a reading of a book about Martin Luther King, Jr., so it seems appropriate to refer back to Dr. King as I finish.  Last month, the choir from Morgan State University in Maryland was in Nassau, and they sung a beautiful song.  It was based on Dr. King’s “Drum Major Instinct” sermon about being a good leader.  I don’t know that I met these standards, but I tried and Dr. King’s words were particularly relevant to me as I prepare to leave The Bahamas:

If I can help somebody as I pass along
If I can cheer somebody with a word or song,
If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong,
Then my living will not be in vain.
If I can do my duty as a Christian ought,
If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought,
If I can spread the message as the master taught,
Then my living will not be in vain.

Thank you.