RBC Wealth Management, located at Lyford Cay, has been recognized as the best provider of private banking services in the Caribbean by Euromoney, a global banking publication.

This is the fourth consecutive year that RBC Wealth Management, which serves high-net-worth and ultra high-net-worth clients in The Bahamas, the Cayman Islands and Barbados, has been recognized as top in the region overall.

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Efforts to improve standards in the Bahamian construction industry have set the country apart from its Caribbean counterparts and established The Bahamas as a leader in the field, according to president of the Bahamian Contractors Association (BCA), Godfrey Forbes (pictured).

As the BCA deliberates on the latest draft of the Contractors Bill, Forbes says the new regulation will boost standards, streamline the industry and ensure inadequate contractors are penalized appropriately.

“We are trying to get the entire industry regulated. We have been working on this for an extremely long time,” he says. “Construction has a huge amount of money involved in it. You have foreign investors coming in and spending millions or, in the case of Atlantis and Baha Mar, billions. When you have that kind of industry, you want to do all you can to ensure it is properly regulated and all concerns are met.”

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US landscape architecture firm Foster Conant & Associates recently received the 2013 Award of Honor in the Commercial category from the Florida Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) for the redesigned West Bay Street area around Baha Mar .

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The Ministry of Tourism is targetting the group meeting and conference market, with the Nassau and Paradise Island Promotion Board hosting a group of meeting and event planners
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Pictured: Minister of the Environment and Housing Kendred Dorsett speaks at a one-day stakeholders workshop at Super Clubs Breezes, August 12, 2013. (BIS photo/Betty Vedrine)

Stakeholders from both the government and private sectors gathered at Super Clubs Breezes to discuss issues affecting the environment earlier this week.

The one-day workshop brought together a cross-section of agencies to discuss issues facing the environment, with a view to creating the necessary framework needed to meet global standards.

Minister of the Environment and Housing Kendred Dorsett delivered the keynote address.

Calling on all stakeholders to assist in protecting and preserving the environment, Minister Dorsett said there needs to be a creative framework that enables countries such as The Bahamas to set a global agenda that enables collective international action, while delivering effective support to national efforts.

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WASHINGTON, DC., August 2013 (ALHI) – Associated Luxury Hotels International (ALHI) has been selected to represent Sandals Resorts International’s new “Luxury Meetings & Incentives Collection” which consists of 9 exceptional Luxury Included® resorts – eight under the Sandals Resorts brand and one under the Beaches Resorts brand — that specifically are designed and experienced to cater to the special needs of meeting and incentive groups. The Sandals Luxury Meetings & Incentives Collection consists of two resorts in the Bahamas, three in Jamaica, one in Turks & Caicos, one in Grenada, one in Antigua, and one in Saint Lucia. ALHI, the prestigious Global Sales Organization (GSO) that serves the North American meetings and incentive marketplace with its exclusive Membership of 150+ Four- and Five-Diamond quality hotels and resorts worldwide, will now provide authorized and dedicated GSO services and sales support to planners and organizations seeking meetings and/or incentive/recognition programs at these impressive Caribbean resorts. These new ALHI Members account for ALHI’s first resorts in the beautiful Turks & Caicos, Grenada, Antigua, and Saint Lucia island destinations. The announcement was made jointly by ALHI President and CEO David Gabri, and Kevin Froemming, President of Unique Vacations Inc., an affiliate of the worldwide representatives of Sandals Resorts and Beaches Resorts, located in Miami, Florida. The specific agreement provides ALHI GSO services for the 9 “Luxury M&I Collection” for Sandals.

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Minister of Housing and Environment Kenred Dorsett has said that the Attorney General’s Office is looking to put legislation in place by the end of the year to allow exploratory drilling for oil by Bahamas Petroleum Company. Watch a ZNS Network news report here.
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Opposition leader Hubert Minnis, accompanied by Peter Turnquest, MP for East Grand Bahama, and Carl Bethel, personal advisor, met with Lisa Schineller and Joydeep Mukherji, representatives from the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s August 13.

The group discussed a wide range of financial topics including the Bahamian economy, fiscal reforms, and matters relating to value added tax (VAT).

The meeting was held in the Minority Room at the House of Assembly.

Prime Minister Perry Christie, along with several Cabinet ministers, travelled to Bimini August 14 to witness the ground breaking on Phase II of the Resorts World Bimini 350-room luxury marina hotel.

“A number of ministers and myself have come to join chairman Tan Sri KT Lim, his family and executive members of Resorts World in The Bahamas, a subsidiary of Genting, to announce and do the groundbreaking for a 350-room expansion,” said Prime Minister Christie.

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BG Capital Group Chairman Bobby Genovese announced today the launch of BG Signature Properties (bgsignatureproperties.com) — a portfolio of 12 exclusive retreat destinations located throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, South America and Bahamas — including the flagship BG Equestrian Resort inOcala, Florida.

“We’ve developed this premium collection of custom travel destinations specifically for the discerning traveler who knows how extraordinary experiences are created, and who appreciates and respects the environments that make these destinations so spectacular,” says Genovese.

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