Foreign relations of the Bahamas

The Bahamas has a strong bilateral relationship with the United Kingdom, represented by a High Commissioner in London. The Bahamas also associates closely with other nations of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

The Bahamas became a member of the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1956 and the United Nations (UN) in 1973.

The Bahamas and the Commonwealth of Nations

The Bahamas has been an independent Commonwealth realm since 1973, with Charles III as King of the Bahamas. The King is represented locally by the Governor-General of the Bahamas.

Diplomatic relations

List of countries which the Bahamas maintains diplomatic relations with:

#	Country	Date
1	United Kingdom	10 July 1973[1]
2	United States	10 July 1973[2]
3	Barbados	10 July 1973[3]
4	Canada	10 July 1973[4][5]
5	Germany	10 July 1973[6]
6	Guyana	10 July 1973[7][8]
7	Jamaica	10 July 1973[9]
8	Belgium	12 December 1973[10][11]
9	Australia	7 January 1974[12]
10	Mexico	23 January 1974[13]
11	Costa Rica	April 1974[14]
12	Netherlands	28 May 1974[15]
13	Switzerland	5 June 1974[16]
14	Argentina	17 June 1974[17]
15	France	August 1974[18]
16	Israel	24 September 1974[19]
17	Turkey	5 November 1974[20]
18	Cuba	30 November 1974[21]
19	Japan	11 March 1975[22]
20	Iceland	18 March 1975[23]
21	Fiji	1 September 1975[24]
22	India	16 October 1975[25]
23	Cyprus	1975[26]
24	Zambia	1975[27]
25	Philippines	3 July 1976[28]
26	Spain	1 December 1976[29]
27	Grenada	1976[30]
28	Venezuela	20 April 1977[31]
29	Indonesia	5 May 1977[32]
30	Haiti	26 August 1977[33]
31	Colombia	26 August 1977[33]
32	Ecuador	27 April 1978[33]
33	Sweden	9 May 1978[34]
34	Brazil	8 September 1978[33]
35	Austria	23 October 1978[33]
36	Morocco	20 December 1978[35]
37	Italy	1978[36]
—	Holy See	27 July 1979[37]
38	Suriname	29 August 1979[38]
39	Saint Lucia	1979[39]
40	Belize	21 September 1981[40]
41	Nigeria	26 October 1982[41]
42	Uruguay	25 November 1982[42]
43	Bolivia	5 August 1983[43][44]
44	Antigua and Barbuda	1983[45]
45	Trinidad and Tobago	1983[45]
46	Bangladesh	8 February 1985[46]
47	South Korea	8 July 1985[47]
48	Gambia	1985[48]
49	Peru	1985[49]
50	Lesotho	1987[50]
51	Vanuatu	27 January 1988[51]
52	Ivory Coast	27 June 1988[52]
53	Serbia	July 1988[53]
54	Zimbabwe	1989[54]
55	Chile	4 December 1990[55]
56	Panama	1 May 1991[56]
57	North Korea	16 May 1991[33]
58	Denmark	June 1991[57]
59	Dominican Republic	4 September 1991[58][59]
60	Cameroon	4 October 1991[33]
61	Norway	11 November 1991[33]
62	Nicaragua	3 January 1992[60]
63	Guatemala	30 March 1992[33]
64	El Salvador	6 May 1992[61]
65	Honduras	1992[62]
66	Greece	May 1993[63]
67	Portugal	27 May 1993[33]
68	Maldives	28 September 1993[33]
69	Saint Kitts and Nevis	1993[64]
70	Kuwait	9 March 1994[33]
71	South Africa	28 July 1994[33]
72	Eswatini	1996[65]
73	China	23 May 1997[33]
74	Botswana	13 September 2000[66]
75	Malaysia	2001[67]
76	Ukraine	27 September 2003[33]
77	Poland	19 November 2003[68]
78	Russia	14 January 2004[33]
79	Slovakia	28 May 2004[69]
80	Slovenia	10 September 2004[33]
81	Malta	20 September 2004[33]
82	Singapore	16 December 2004[33]
83	Latvia	20 January 2005[33]
84	Pakistan	10 February 2005[70]
85	Egypt	11 February 2005[71]
86	Hungary	17 May 2005[33]
87	Czech Republic	6 June 2005[33]
88	Sri Lanka	19 July 2005[33]
89	Lithuania	11 August 2005[72]
90	Mozambique	7 September 2005[33]
91	Ghana	12 September 2005[73]
92	Estonia	20 October 2005[33]
93	Finland	2 December 2005[74]
94	Sierra Leone	7 November 2006[33]
95	San Marino	22 November 2006[33]
96	Ireland	23 April 2007[33]
97	Romania	18 July 2007[75]
98	Uganda	9 August 2007[76]
99	Bulgaria	27 September 2007[33]
100	Luxembourg	28 September 2007[33]
101	Namibia	15 May 2008[77]
—	Sovereign Military Order of Malta	11 November 2008[78]
102	Bahrain	25 September 2010[33]
103	United Arab Emirates	2 May 2011[33]
104	Georgia	13 May 2011[33]
105	Qatar	1 August 2013[79]
106	Kazakhstan	8 December 2014[80]
107	Mongolia	8 July 2016[33]
108	Thailand	21 September 2016[33]
109	Turkmenistan	7 October 2016[33]
110	Brunei	21 November 2016[33]
111	Mauritius	18 January 2017[33]
112	Croatia	31 January 2017[81]
113	Azerbaijan	2 May 2017[33]
114	Montenegro	6 September 2017[82]
115	Armenia	21 September 2017[33]
116	Nepal	7 November 2017[33]
117	Tajikistan	5 December 2017[33]
118	New Zealand	27 June 2019[83][84]
119	Bosnia and Herzegovina	30 October 2019[33]
120	Andorra	31 October 2019[33]
121	Moldova	15 November 2019[33]
122	Belarus	9 December 2019[85]
123	Rwanda	16 June 2022[33]
124	Tuvalu	23 June 2022[33]
125	Saudi Arabia	23 November 2022[33]
126	Cape Verde	8 December 2022[33]
127	Vietnam	6 January 2023[33]
128	Oman	10 January 2023[33]
129	Kenya	19 January 2024[86]
130	Benin	21 January 2024[33]
131	Solomon Islands	15 March 2024[33]
132	Monaco	17 April 2024[33]
133	Algeria	1 May 2024[33]
134	Uzbekistan	26 September 2024[87]
135	Malawi	22 October 2024[88]
136	Samoa	22 October 2024[33]
137	Seychelles	24 October 2024[89]
138	Togo	24 October 2024[90]
139	Dominica	Unknown
140	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Unknown

Bilateral relations

Country	Formal an	Notes
Barbados	10 July 1973	Both countries established diplomatic relations on 10 July 1973.[91] Both countries are full members of the Association of Caribbean States and the Commonwealth of Nations. The Commonwealth of the Bahamas is accredited to Barbados through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nassau,[92] and an Honorary Consulate at St. James in Barbados.[93] Barbados is accredited to the Commonwealth of the Bahamas through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bridgetown,[94] and an Honorary Consulate in New Providence.[95]
Belgium	12 December 1973	Bahamas has an embassy in Brussels. Belgium is accredited to the Bahamas from its embassy in Washington, D.C., United States.
Belize	21 September 1981	Both countries established diplomatic relations on 21 September 1981.[96] Both countries are full members of the Organization of American States and of the Caribbean Community.
Brazil	18 August 1978	Bahamas has a non-resident ambassador to Brazil based in Nassau. Brazil has an embassy in Nassau.
Canada	10 July 1973	Bahamas has a high commission in Ottawa. Canada is accredited to the Bahamas from its high commission in Kingston, Jamaica and maintains an honorary consulate in Nassau.
China	23 May 1997	See Bahamas–China relations Bahamas has an embassy in Beijing. China has an embassy in Nassau.
Cuba	30 November 1974	See Bahamas–Cuba relations A repatriation agreement was signed with Cuba in 1996, and there are commercial and cultural contacts between the two countries. Bahamas has an embassy in Havana. Cuba has an embassy in Nassau.
Guyana	10 July 1973	Both countries established diplomatic relations on 10 July 1973.[97] Both countries are full members of the Organization of American States, of the Caribbean Community and of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Haiti	12 August 1977	See Bahamas–Haiti relations Prime Minister Hubert Minnis visited Port-au-Prince to discuss stemming illegal immigration from Haiti and a trade deal selling Haitian agricultural products to the Bahamas. Bahamas has an embassy in Port-au-Prince. Haiti has an embassy in Nassau.
India	16 October 1975	See Bahamas–India relations Bahamas is accredited to India from its high commission in New Delhi. India is accredited to the Bahamas from its high commission in Kingston, Jamaica.
Mexico	24 January 1974	See Bahamas–Mexico relations Bahamas is accredited to Mexico from its embassy in Washington, D.C., United States.[98] Mexico is accredited to the Bahamas from its embassy in Kingston, Jamaica and maintains an honorary consulate in Nassau.[99]
Poland	30 August 2004	Bahamas does not have an accreditation to Poland. Poland is accredited to the Bahamas from its embassy in Washington, D.C., United States and maintains an honorary consulate in Nassau.
Russia	14 January 2004	The two countries signed accords on diplomatic relations on 14 January 2004. Since both countries have signed a joint communiqué, Sergey Lavrov states that the Bahamas and Russia decided to sign diplomatic missions on the ambassadorial level. Both countries are members of the United Nations. Russia is represented in the Bahamas through its consulate-general in New York City. On 24 July 2022, Russia added the Bahamas to its Unfriendly countries list.
Serbia	July 1988	Both countries have established diplomatic relations in July 1988.[100] A number of bilateral agreements have been concluded and are in force in both countries.[101]
South Korea	8 July 1985	See Bahamas–South Korea relations The two countries have good relations.[102]
Turkey	5 November 1974[103]	See Bahamas–Turkey relations Bahamas does not have an accreditation to Turkey. Turkey is accredited to the Bahamas from its embassy in Havana, Cuba.[103] Trade volume between the two countries was 86.1 million USD in 2019.[103]
United Kingdom	10 July 1973	See Bahamas–United Kingdom relations The Bahamas established diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom on 10 July 1973.[1] The Bahamas maintains a high commission in London.[104] The United Kingdom is accredited to the Bahamas through its high commission in Nassau.[105] The UK governed the Bahamas from 1648 to 1973, when the Bahamas achieved full independence. Both countries share common membership of the Caribbean Development Bank, the Commonwealth, the International Criminal Court, and the World Trade Organization, as well as the CARIFORUM–UK Economic Partnership Agreement.[106] Bilaterally the two countries have a Tax Information Exchange Agreement.[107]
United States	10 July 1973	See Bahamas–United States relations The Bahamas and the United States historically have had close economic and commercial relations. The countries share ethnic and cultural ties, especially in education; the Bahamas is home to approximately 30,000 American residents. In addition, there are about 110 U.S.-related businesses in the Bahamas and, in 2005, 87% of the 5 million tourists visiting the Bahamas were American. As a neighbour, the Bahamas and its political stability are especially important to the United States. The U.S. and the Bahamian governments have worked together on reducing crime and addressing migration issues. With the closest island only 45 miles from the coast of Florida, the Bahamas often is used as a gateway for drugs and illegal aliens bound for the United States. The United States and the Bahamas cooperate closely to handle these threats. U.S. assistance and resources have been essential to Bahamian efforts to mitigate the persistent flow of illegal narcotics and migrants through the archipelago. The United States and the Bahamas also actively cooperate on law enforcement, civil aviation, marine research, meteorology, and agricultural issues. The U.S. Navy operates an underwater research facility on Andros Island. The Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Customs and Border Protection maintains "preclearance" facilities at the airports in Nassau and Freeport. Travelers to the U.S. are interviewed and inspected before departure, allowing faster connection times in the U.S. Bahamas has an embassy in Washington, D.C., and consulates-general in Atlanta, Miami and New York City. United States has an embassy in Nassau.

Multilateral memberships

The Bahamas holds memberships in a number of international organizations: the UN and some specialized and related agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), International Labour Organization (ILO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), World Bank, World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and World Health Organization (WHO); the OAS and related agencies, including the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), and Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO); the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), excluding its Caribbean Single Market and Economy; the International Criminal Police Organization – Interpol; the Universal Postal Union (UPU); the International Maritime Organization (IMO); and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).^{[citation needed]}

See also

• List of diplomatic missions in the Bahamas
• List of diplomatic missions of the Bahamas
• Visa requirements for Bahamian citizens
• North American Union
• North American Free Trade Agreement
• Free Trade Area of the Americas
• Third Border Initiative
• Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI)
• Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act
• Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative