Excellencies, distinguished delegates, members of the diplomatic corps, colleagues, and fellow Bahamians, good morning.
This morning, I want to reaffirm something that may seem old-fashioned but is, in fact, more urgent than ever. It is the belief that diplomacy can still work. That reasoned dialogue can still settle disputes. That patient cooperation can still create peace.
We live in an age when the world feels impatient with the slow work of diplomacy. When confrontation too often replaces conversation, and certainty takes the place of understanding. Many have come to believe that nations will only act out of self-interest and that multilateralism no longer holds meaning. Yet history reminds us that where diplomacy fails, instability thrives.
For The Bahamas, diplomacy has never been an ornament of state. It is the foundation of our national survival. We are a small island nation, but we live within a global system that moves with great speed. The tides that reach our shores carry the effects of global decisions made far beyond these islands.
When energy markets fluctuate, it changes the cost of electricity that powers our homes, our schools, and our hotels. When nations fail to meet their climate targets, it is our seawalls that crumble, our mangroves that disappear, and our people who must rebuild after each storm.
The global system is not an abstract or distant concept. It moves through our economy, our weather, and our food supply. It determines the flow of tourists who visit our islands and the price of the goods that fill our stores. That is why for The Bahamas, diplomacy is the mechanism through which we negotiate advantage, manage risk, and protect our sovereignty.
Fifty years ago, we began this work in earnest. The Bahamas established diplomatic relations with the European Union and with Japan. We were young, newly independent, and untested in global affairs. Yet even then, we understood that independence without partnership would be fragile. We sought relationships that were based on respect and reciprocity. We learned early that friendship between nations, like friendship between people, requires consistency, humility, and good faith.
Today, we celebrate the golden jubilee of those diplomatic relationships. I am honoured to welcome over a dozen Ambassadors representing European Union member states and His Excellency Yasuhiro Atsumi of Japan. Your presence affirms the value of long-term commitment. It tells a story about how the world changes, yet trust can endure.
These relationships were not built in moments of ease alone. They were built through changing governments, shifting economies, and evolving global realities. But they have endured because they rest on shared principles.
Diplomacy may appear distant to some, but its outcomes reach deep into our communities. When our negotiators secure new climate finance mechanisms, they are creating opportunities for Bahamian contractors to rebuild seawalls in Grand Bahama. They are providing the funding to reinforce schools in Abaco. They are ensuring that the people of Long Island and Exuma can live with greater protection from rising seas.
When we expand trade partnerships and attract new investment, diplomacy becomes the quiet architecture of opportunity. It opens doors for Bahamian exporters, for small businesses, and for tourism operators who depend on reliable air and sea links. It allows for the exchange of technology, skills, and knowledge. The trade agreements and investment treaties we negotiate are the reason a young Bahamian can find work in a hotel, a resort, or a renewable energy project.
When we work with our neighbours and allies on maritime security, diplomacy gives our law enforcement agencies access to intelligence, technology, and coordination that would otherwise be out of reach. It strengthens our ability to defend our borders, safeguard our waters, and combat trafficking and illegal fishing.
And when we speak in international forums for small island developing states, we are standing on principle. We are demanding fairness. We are reminding the world that our size does not diminish our right to influence decisions which affect our very existence.
This is the work of diplomacy – the unseen effort that makes daily life in The Bahamas more secure, more prosperous, and more stable.
My government is committed to an active and strategic foreign policy that reflects the complexity of our times. We are building a professional and modern foreign service equipped to operate in a world defined by rapid change. Our diplomats must now understand climate finance as well as international law, energy transition as well as economics, digital regulation as well as traditional trade. The practice of diplomacy today requires technical expertise, but also emotional intelligence – the ability to read intention, to navigate difference, and to speak for national interest without arrogance.
We are strengthening our representation abroad to ensure that Bahamian voices are heard on every major issue – from sustainable development and global taxation, to maritime boundaries and the governance of emerging industries like digital assets. We are also deepening our cooperation with regional partners through CARICOM, because we know that small states are strongest when they act collectively.
The Bahamas has long understood that isolation is not an option. We sit at a strategic crossroads between North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean. That position gives us reach, but it also gives us responsibility. We have a duty to act as a bridge – between the developed and developing world, between the large and the small, between the powerful and the vulnerable.
In a time of global fragmentation, nations like ours can demonstrate that cooperation is still possible.
As we begin Diplomatic Week 2025, I ask that we see this as a reminder that peace does not sustain itself. It must be cultivated through conversation, compromise, and courage. The world does not need more noise. It needs steadier voices – voices that can calm conflict, tolerate differences, and build coalitions for the common good.
Small nations like ours must continue to be those voices. We must continue to engage constructively, to listen carefully, and to act decisively.
Over the past fifty years, The Bahamas has built a reputation for reliability, for integrity, and for good governance. We have shown that diplomacy works when it serves people. It worked when we negotiated independence. It worked when we strengthened our financial services industry through international cooperation. It worked when we became a leader in climate advocacy for small states.
It will continue to work – because the values that sustain diplomacy are the same values that sustain peace: patience, honesty, and respect.
Excellencies, colleagues, and friends, the work before us this week is vital..
The Bahamas welcomes you with gratitude and with hope. It is my shared hope that the discussions of this week renew our belief that diplomacy, though slow, remains humanity’s most reliable path to progress. And this week remind us that small nations can help steer great powers toward fairness, and that partnership remains the highest form of strength.
Diplomacy has carried us this far. It will carry us further still – if we continue to believe in it, practice it, and live by its discipline.
Welcome to The Bahamas. Welcome to Diplomatic Week 2025.
Thank you.