By INDERIA SAUNDERS, Guardian Staff Reporter

On the heels of a low international ranking for the ease of conducting business, local businessman Owen Bethel is pressing for the implementation of a National Development Plan to provide direction and basis for future projects.

"It is my view that a primary role of government should be [the] establishment of an environment conducive for the conduct of business and encouragement of investment and entrepreneurial enterprise, not through the creation and operation of business itself, but through providing incentives for action by the private sector," Bethel, president of the Montaque Group, said. "Particularly in those areas of the economy deemed a priority for economic development or in support of economic diversification, as outlined in a comprehensive bi-partisan National Development Plan."

His statements follow a relatively low ranking for The Bahamas in the World Bank's recent "Doing Business 2008" survey, with the nation slipping four places in how easy it was to conduct business affairs in this country. The Bahamas ranked particularly low in property registration, construction permit processing, investor protection and enforcing contracts.

In order to get its results, the Doing Business report compiled procedural requirements for exporting and importing a standardized cargo of goods by ocean transport, according to the World Bank Web site.

Adding that it was a long-standing practice of governments to tout the importance of "rolling out the red carpet and erasing the red tape" for investors, he said there was an apparent lack of initiative to steer the country in that direction. He said the need for thinking outside the box was never more evident than in the current economic conditions, pointing to the recent North American credit crisis that has had "ripple effects" on global economies.

Here in The Bahamas, he said there was now a risk of losing constructive and productive minds of energetic and creative young persons to lives of crimes, disinterest and social unrest or dysfunction.

"Worse is the fear of a brain drain of that most valuable resource to ensure future economic growth and development. . . it is time for action," asserted Bethel. "While we shot ourselves in the foot in 2000 in the financial services sector, when all that was needed was minor but precise surgery where it mattered, we run the risk of repeating the same mistake in the tourism sector without creative and bold action being taken to avert the danger warning signs."

From now on, he suggested harnessing the country's cultural avenues for future development. Bethel pointed to the film industry and the potential of the Bahamas International Film Festival, the fashion and creative arts industry, as well as the upcoming premiere of the Islands of the World Fashion Week, which Bethel's company Mode Isles Ltd. is organizing.

"In other words, we must identify what makes us unique as a people and as a destination and that typically comes down to unique cultural characteristics," he said. "So we must harness those activities for the benefit of the country as a whole."

Still, all news was not bad in the World Bank survey, with The Bahamas moving up the global rankings in terms of contract enforcement and ease of trade across borders.