Above: Bahamas Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell (BIS Photo)
By the Caribbean Journal staff
Bahamas Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell led a delegation to Haiti on Wednesday for bilateral talks on migration issues.
The visit was also slated to cover issues such as human trafficking, human smuggling, trade and agricultural cooperation.
Mitchell was joined on the trip by Minister of State for National Security Senator Keith Bell; Commodore of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force Roderick Bowe and foreign service officer Wilfred Adderley.
Bahamian Ambassador to Haiti Godfrey Rolle will be joining the group, which is set to meet with Foreign Minister Pierre Richard Casimir, Interior Minister David Drazile and Trade Minister Wilson Laleau.
In a statement, the Bahamas said that after the controversial court decision affecting Haitians living in the Dominican Republic, it took the opportunity to voice its own concerns about illegal migration issues.
On the trade front, Mitchell said Haiti needed phyto-sanitary protocols meeting international standards to increase trade between the two countries.
While the Bahamas currently imports plantains and mangoes grown in Haiti, it does so through the United States “because of the absence of the requisite phyto-sanitary measures in Haiti,” the government said.
The delegation will return to the Bahamas on Friday.