US VP Biden to visit T&T end of May

US VP Joe Biden and his spouse, Jill Biden

U.S. vice president Joe Biden will visit Trinidad and Tobago on May 30. The visit has been confirmed by the American embassy in Port of Spain. It gave no additional details. 

However in a media release Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar welcomed the visit, describing it as “the continued strengthening of diplomatic relations between the United States and Trinidad and Tobago”.

Biden and his wife, Dr Jill Biden, would also be visiting Brazil and Colombia during the week of May 27, 2013. 

Biden will hold bilateral talks in Port of Spain that will focus on collaboration in a number of areas including security. This will be followed by a meeting with regional Heads, who have been invited to discuss issues such as the collective efforts to promote economic growth, energy interdependence, and development in the Caribbean.

The visit of the U.S. Vice President follows the visit of Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar to Washington in April, 2013 during which she discussed with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns several matters of critical interest to Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). 

These included the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, assistance in the fight against the illegal drug trade and the process of criminal deportations from the US. She also discussed with US authorities the convening a CARICOM-US Summit. 

Persad-Bissessar assumes the chairmanship of CARICOM on July 1, in keeping with the decision taken by the CARICOM Conference in February, 2013 in Haiti.