Above: US Attorney General Eric Holder with the delegation (BIS Photo/)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

United States Attorney General Eric Holder hosted a Bahamian delegation in Washington on Friday for high-level talks on national security issues.

The delegation included National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage, Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell and Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Sen. Allyson Maynard-Gibson.

The talks focused on issues including human smuggling, trafficking in persons, gun trafficking and others of mutual interest, according to a government statement.

The meeting came after talks between the US and the Bahamas culminated in a letter of agreement for $2.135 million in security funding under the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative signed in late 2012.

It also followed Holder’s visit to Port-au-Prince last month for the CARICOM Heads of Government Summit.

The Bahamian team also met with Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, who leads the US State Department’s office on trafficking in persons globally.