Trade, finance and investment in TT top agenda for PM's London trip

 

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar arrives in London Tuesday morning to co-chair a vital Commonwealth econonic conference attended by private sector and national leaders of 54 member countries.

She is due to hold talks Tuesday with Dr. Mohan Kaul, Direrctor General of the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC), which hosts the annual Commonwealth Economic Partnerships Forum.

The meeting, to be held at the Commonwealth's Malborough House headquarters, will discuss the aims of the two-day conference, which has attracted top-brass officials from five continents.

The conference is aimed at shoring up economic relations and boosting investments, good governance and social respoinsibility.

Later Tuesday, the Prime Minister hosts Trinidad andTobago nationals at Chelsea. Reports say the function has sparked widespread excitement among domiciled residents.

The economic conference begins Wednesday morning. Persad-Bissessar will speak at the opening session along with three other prominent speakers.

She is expected to discuss the need to further foster economic partnerships among the Commonwealth family of nations, which, among themselves, do US $3 trillion in annual trade.

Foreign Afairs Minister Dr. Surujrattan Rambachan, who is already in London, will participate in an afternoon panel discussion titled “The Americas: Leveraging the Commonwealth.”

Participants in that session will include Professor Paul Sutton, Chairman of the British Caribbean Chamber of Commerce.

Senior executives in finance and other fields are listed to take part in the conference, which ends Thursday with a special 90-minute session on “investment opportunities in Trinidad and Tobago.”

Officials of the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the Energy Chamber are expected to make presentations.

Both Trinidad and Tobago’s public and private sector representatives are likely to point to relatively cheap energy prices, stable democracy, modern information and communications technology, well developed infrastructure and other positive investment features.

Minister Rambachan has said Trinidad and Tobago will make a major thrust to attract investments from Commonwealth partners, whose membership includes two of the world’s largest seven economies and five members of the G20.

The CBC was formed in 1997 and its mandate includes bridging the gap between the public and private sectors.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar will address the highly-regarded Royal Commonwealth Society at its gala awards dinner.


-Ken Ali