T&T wants in on regional energy corridor – Head of State

…energy, other issues to be discussed during Port of Spain visit

As Guyana works with its South American neighbours to establish a regional energy corridor, the countries are looking to tap into the expertise in Trinidad and Tobago to achieve this ambitious initiative.
This is according to President Dr Irfaan Ali on Wednesday, ahead of a State Visit to the twin-island Republic of Trinidad & Tobago later in the day.

The Head of State told reporters on the sidelines of an event on Wednesday morning that he would be having extensive discussions with Trinidad Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to advance bilateral relations in a number of areas, including in the energy sector.
“The Prime Minister and I, in our discussions [prior], discussed this, and the Prime Minister has expressed Trinidad willingness to work with Guyana and Suriname in the development of our gas resource, and look at other opportunities in the energy sector. So that has been communicated,” President Ali has said.

“As you know, Trinidad has some ideas in relation to the gas with Guyana and Suriname, and they wanted to be part of the discussion in terms of building up of this [energy] corridor, and how what they’re doing also can be integrated into what Guyana and Suriname can do, so we can have a broad development concept in terms of the gas strategy for the region,” President Ali stated.
The first time President Ali spoke of Trinidad’s interest in the energy corridor initiative was back in June at the Suriname Energy, Oil & Gas Summit & Exhibition, when he had disclosed that a regional energy strategy that would connect the oil and natural gas producers in the region is being crafted.
The countries participating in that strategy include Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil and even Barbados, which has natural gas potential. At the time, the Guyanese Leader had said that while Guyana, Suriname and Brazil had already started talks on combining their ability to create an energy corridor and unlock the potential for a series of manufacturing and industrial development, Trinidad is also interested in working along with them in unlocking some of this potential.
President Ali and First Lady Arya Ali, along with their son, arrived in Port-of-Spain on Wednesday afternoon. President Ali was welcomed by acting President of Trinidad and Tobago, Christine Kangaloo, and with a 21-gun salute, after which he was invited to inspect the Guard of Honour.
The Head of State is expected to meet with Prime Minister Rowley today.
President Ali had told reporters prior to his departure that the state visit was twofold. The first aspect being furthering collaboration with TT under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was signed back in May in Georgetown seeking to resolve trade restrictions and push cooperation in other sectors.
“We’ll be going through what they’re doing, the evolution of their industrial development, manufacturing. We’ll go through the MoU to look at areas that we can move forward very quickly, and that is directly between Guyana and Trinidad in agriculture, removal of the trade barriers, which you know we have been working on for the last few months; the manufacturing sector; industrial development, looking at how we can integrate our food production system with their built-up capacity already. So, those are some of the things that we’re looking at,” he disclosed.
The second part of the visit, according to Guyanese Leader, is advancing the Caricom (Caribbean Community) Food Security Initiative, since many Caricom leaders would also be in the twin-island Republic over the coming days.
“We will be assessing our progress to date, looking at how the strategy has been implemented all across. I have that responsibility of doing the update. We have a meeting with Republic Bank. You know, they have set aside some resources for the food production system in agriculture. So, there are a number of proposals that Guyana has been able to work with other countries on developing. We are also supporting many countries in terms of the shade house programme, the revitalisation of the coconut industry, the transportation logistics, the major bugbear. So those are the type of things that will be discussed. There’s also an expo focusing on innovation, technology, the trade barriers. So that is what the next few days will be, and Caricom Heads meeting,” the President indicated.
As part of his visit, President Ali would be participating in Trinidad’s Agri-Investment Forum that will commence on Friday.
Joining the Head of State on this visit are Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Hugh Todd; Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha; Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Oneidge Walrond, and other Government officials. (G8)