Edison Sumner, former CEO of the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation and current chair of the National Productivity Task Force, has publicly pushed back against recent government criticism of the landmark Hawksbill Creek Agreement, framing the decades-old framework as a well-designed economic model whose core challenges stem from inconsistent implementation rather than inherent flaws.
Sumner’s remarks arrive weeks after the administration of Prime Minister Philip Davis publicly dismissed the 1955 founding treaty governing Freeport as antiquated, colonial, and no longer fit for purpose, vowing unilaterally to overhaul its terms. The historic Hawksbill Creek Agreement was first signed between the British colonial government of the Bahamas and the Grand Bahama Port Authority, establishing Freeport as a purpose-built free trade zone with sweeping tax and duty concessions for operating businesses, a framework that has been replicated by multiple other nations seeking to build their own special economic zones. The original agreement is set to remain in full effect until 2054.
Earlier this year, Prime Minister Davis declared that the restructuring of Freeport’s governance is a “settled” matter that will no longer be negotiated with the Grand Bahama Port Authority, unveiling a sweeping reform package that includes a formal legal review of the agreement led by Attorney General Wayne Munroe, a newly created government-run Grand Bahama Development Council, and proposed standalone Grand Bahama Development Act that would extend regulatory oversight across the entire island. The government’s accompanying Green Paper on the reforms argues that the decades-old pact has outlived its practical utility and created deep, systemic economic imbalance across Grand Bahama. For its part, the Grand Bahama Port Authority has repeatedly maintained that its legally enshrined rights under the 1955 agreement can only be modified through mutual, consensual negotiation, not unilateral state action.
Sumner emphasized that he is not calling for the full abandonment of the Hawksbill Creek framework, noting that the former Christie administration extended the agreement’s core tax concession provisions back in 2016. Instead, he advocated for a targeted, collaborative review of the pact to assess which clauses remain relevant to Freeport’s long-term development trajectory, rather than pursuing top-down changes without stakeholder input. He stressed that Grand Bahama remains one of the Bahamas’ most underutilized high-potential engines for national economic growth, and that prolonged public disputes between the government and private sector stakeholders risk stifling that potential.
The long-running dispute between the Davis administration and the Grand Bahama Port Authority has already spilled over into formal international arbitration proceedings. In March of this year, government officials confirmed that an arbitral tribunal had issued a partial ruling ordering the Port Authority to resume required annual payments to the Bahamian government for the full remaining duration of the agreement, while also rejecting the Port Authority’s longstanding claim to exclusive regulatory authority over the Freeport zone. The full arbitration process remains ongoing as of press time.
Sumner urged both sides to set aside public confrontations and return to face-to-face, good-faith negotiations to resolve outstanding disagreements, rather than allowing the impasse to drag on through legal channels and public posturing.