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And so who will fill that void? Who would best be to fill that? And what I desire you to consider, I am being a bit jaded here. I believe I would like to see an American company can be found in there and fill that void. How would you see that occurring and what would you suggest? We will begin with you, Ms. Yearwood. Ms. Yearwood. Thank you, Mr. Yoho. I believe that the U.S. is well placed to fill deep space in case Venezuela is no longer able to supply through the Petrocaribe program. I think the surplus gas, I believe the development of clean and sustainable energy, the area is truly at a crossroads in regards to transitioning to tidy and renewable resource whether its solar or wind.
Among the issues, for example, is OPEC has a large quantity of financial investment in the Caribbean in the energy area. But there are two concerns. The size of the marketplaces in the smaller sized countries of the Caribbean do not always enable them to get OPEC financing or really have the ability to put together a good bundle for OPEC financing, and the second point is lack of feasibility studies (How many years can you finance a boat). What is a finance charge on a credit card. OPEC does not make grants and it does not do expediency research studies therefore there is a great deal of legwork that requires to be carried out in order bring some of this new innovation into the area.
Yoho. Exists any private partnerships, private-public collaborations or NGOs that you would advise that would be best fit, you understand, with the oil companies and, you understand, among our think tanks up here? Ms. Yearwood. I would suggest Eric. No. Mr. Yoho. You need to like that. Is that a segue you desire to-- Ms. Yearwood. No, I believe there are a great deal of entities in the U.S. that are dealing with energy in the Caribbean. Mr. Yoho. Okay. And I think my issue is we can't fret about what took place in the past over the last 20 or thirty years.

And I understand our sensations are we don't want to inform you how to live, we just wish to be great trading partners with you, but assist become strong trading partners where we develop an economic base in your countries. And with the influence of China, all my life China was kind of a teen, but in the last, state 10 years, I have seen them grow into the age of puberty and they have a great deal of money and they are starting to feel the effects of their testosterone. And we have actually seen that in the South China Sea, however we have seen the investments they have performed in the Caribbean, you understand, in the Bahamas-- I believe it was $3 \ 1/2 \ billion-- and what they have actually done in Panama and Honduras and all that.
I simply believe there are much better partners whats a timeshare that we can have and I think that would originate from the excellent ol' U.S. of A. And so policies that you would assist direct us, you know, whether it is ag, energy, just merchandise trade, what would you advise, Mr. Farnsworth? Mr. Farnsworth. Well, Mr. Yoho, thank you for the question. And let me make a fast footnote on the China problem, first, if I can. You know, China's engagement in the Caribbean-- and Ambassador Bernal is the true expert on this. I don't wish to step on your toes. However it is different in the Caribbean than it remains in South America, for instance, where it is much more business, it is far more commodities based.
You still have the political competition with Taiwan in parts of the Caribbean and Central America, et cetera, et cetera, so we have to bear in mind that part of the aspect also. In terms of the energy relationship, among the important things we are finding out from the reforms in Mexico is it is not just oil and gas drilling, for example. Everybody focuses on that in the majors in the deepwater in the Gulf of Mexico and when is the next bid round and all that. But what it is a lot more impactful in Mexico is the power grid, the electrical power, and when that secures free up the expense of electrical energy comes down which is really great for the consumer.
Therefore if you can bring that expense down to the customer, first off, you have more disposable income to invest in other things, however also it ends up being a far more competitive industrial platform to begin to produce therefore that begins to bring financial investment, which today is more minimal since again on the size of the economy. So if there is one aspect that could truly be focused on, you know, it is not let's continue to import dirty diesel fuel and some of the really filthy timeshare a scam toxins that Venezuela is providing - What does etf stand for in finance. Let's help transform the Caribbean to a clean energy power grid that can be used a lot more efficiently that where the expense of electrical energy can come down and make the entire area a far more competitive productive platform which will help their economies long term.
Mr. Yoho. And I appreciate it. And I am out of time, however I anticipate dealing with you in the future so that we can prepare legislation to help reinforce the existence of America there, and I believe everybody wins in that scenario. And I yield back, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Duncan. Thank you. We are then joined by Ambassador Bernal. Thanks for coming. I am sorry about the DC traffic and probably intensified by the DC heat. However we are going to go on and acknowledge you for 5 minutes for an opening statement. STATEMENT OF HIS EXCELLENCY RICHARD BERNAL, PRO-VICE CHANCELLOR FOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS, UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES IN JAMAICA Mr.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, my apologies for being late. I left my home at 3 o'clock a. m. this early morning. I was going well up until the Falun Gong had a presentation on Constitution Opportunity. I will really briefly summarize my spoken declaration which is that I believe this is a crucial time for the U.S. to re- examine its policy toward the Caribbean and timeshare foreclosures for sale to take a brand-new vibrant initiative in the Caribbean; because, the Caribbean has been having a very difficult time given that the global economic crisis; a combination of long term structural institutional factors along with some short-term cyclical aspects, such as oil prices.

and for Jamaica due to the fact that the U.S. is the main and biggest trading partner and primary source of financial investment and tourists. It is in the interest of the U.S. to have a prosperous, serene, and democratic Caribbean. Because regard I concentrate on the economic problems, due to the fact that I think the financial concerns strike all the other problems which are important such as governance, democracy, anti-narcotics campaigns. I have actually determined six concerns which I believe need to be attended to. The first problem which I believe needs to be attended to is the financial obligation circumstance. The Caribbean nations have ended up being a few of the most extremely indebted countries on the planet.