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Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Venezuela, T&T min­is­ters:

We must expand

energy, trade links

by

592 days ago
20230709
Venezuela’s Vice Minister for the Caribbean, Raúl Li Causi

Venezuela’s Vice Minister for the Caribbean, Raúl Li Causi

Raphael John-Lall

As Venezuela cel­e­brat­ed its 212th In­de­pen­dence Day last Wednes­day, Trade Min­is­ter Paula Gopee-Scoon ex­pressed her wish that T&T and Venezuela ex­pand their en­er­gy and trade ties.

“We have a his­to­ry of co-op­er­a­tion in sev­er­al sec­tors in­clud­ing en­er­gy, se­cu­ri­ty, ed­u­ca­tion, trade and cul­ture. The most sig­nif­i­cant de­vel­op­ment, in re­cent times, is the com­mence­ment of ne­go­ti­a­tions to de­vel­op the Drag­on gas field, which I am cer­tain will ac­crue ben­e­fits to both of our economies and peo­ples. Ad­di­tion­al­ly, from where I sit, I be­lieve there is room for im­prov­ing our trade re­al­i­ties be­yond en­er­gy to in­clude agri­cul­ture prod­ucts, food and bev­er­ages and the cre­ative in­dus­tries.”

Gopee-Scoon spoke at a cer­e­mo­ny last Wednes­day cel­e­brat­ing Venezuela’s 212th De­c­la­ra­tion of In­de­pen­dence held at the Venezue­lan Em­bassy, Vic­to­ria Av­enue, Port-of-Spain.

She al­so said that Venezuela’s In­de­pen­dence Day and the ar­rival of se­nior Venezue­lan Gov­ern­ment of­fi­cials last week co­in­cid­ed with Cari­com’s 50th an­niver­sary cel­e­bra­tions in T&T.

“We in T&T and in­deed in the Caribbean Com­mu­ni­ty are cel­e­brat­ing the 50th an­niver­sary of Cari­com. Our re­la­tion­ship has per­se­vered through an evolv­ing re­gion­al land­scape and like those be­fore us, we must use our strength in uni­ty as a guide­post to en­hance our bi­lat­er­al re­la­tions, and in turn en­hance our par­tic­i­pa­tion and strength­en our col­lab­o­ra­tion with oth­er like-mind­ed coun­tries in re­gion­al fo­ra.”

She added that both Venezuela and T&T al­so par­tic­i­pate in re­gion­al bod­ies like the As­so­ci­a­tion of Caribbean States (ACS), Latin Amer­i­can Eco­nom­ic Sys­tem (SELA), the Com­mu­ni­ty of Latin Amer­i­can and Caribbean States (CELAC), the Gas Ex­port­ing Coun­tries Fo­rum (GECF), the Unit­ed Na­tions and oth­er im­por­tant in­ter­na­tion­al in­sti­tu­tions and she is con­fi­dent that these will con­tin­ue to ben­e­fit the de­vel­op­ment of both coun­tries.

En­er­gy ne­go­ti­a­tions

Venezuela’s deputy For­eign Af­fairs Min­is­ter for the Caribbean, Raúl Li Causi, who al­so spoke at the event, thanked T&T for the role this coun­try has played in “de­fend­ing” its re­la­tion­ship with Venezuela over the Drag­on Gas Field ne­go­ti­a­tions from U.S. Sanc­tions.

“The role of T&T and Cari­com has been im­por­tant in the fight for prin­ci­ples and from stop­ping the in­ter­fer­ence of the Unit­ed States.”

De­spite US sanc­tions and oth­er chal­lenges, he al­so promised that Venezuela will con­tin­ue its en­er­gy co-op­er­a­tion with T&T.

“In terms of en­er­gy, I would like to high­light our un­re­strict­ed com­mit­ment to con­tin­ue our co­op­er­a­tion with T&T in the de­vel­op­ment of the Drag­on Gas Field in east­ern Venezuela for the ben­e­fit of both of our peo­ple, in spite of re­lent­less for­eign in­ter­fer­ence.”

In the area of me­dia and telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions, he said the Latin Amer­i­can news me­dia net­work Telesur, in which the Venezue­lan Gov­ern­ment has shares, will em­bark on co­op­er­a­tion with T&T’s state-owned Trinidad and To­ba­go Tele­vi­sion (TTT).

“Al­so, as we are speak­ing right now, Telesur and TTT, are about to sign a Mem­o­ran­dum of Un­der­stand­ing that would fa­cil­i­tate the ex­change of tele­vi­sion pro­grammes and best prac­tices, which in turn will en­hance the knowl­edge and flow of in­for­ma­tion in the whole of the Latin Amer­i­can and Caribbean re­gion.”

He added that both coun­tries will ex­pand ties in all ar­eas.

“In ad­di­tion to cul­ture, T&T and Venezuela share a wide ar­ray of com­mon in­ter­ests in vi­tal ar­eas, such as en­er­gy, telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions, se­cu­ri­ty, trade, com­merce, agri­cul­ture, fish­ing and the en­vi­ron­ment, as well as in the mul­ti­lat­er­al are­na.”

He al­so con­grat­u­lat­ed T&T and Cari­com on its 50th an­niver­sary.

“In­deed, not far from Port-of-Spain, in Ch­aguara­mas, Cari­com was born 50 years ago, as a bea­con and a sym­bol for Caribbean in­te­gra­tion, co-op­er­a­tion and sol­i­dar­i­ty, thanks to the vi­sion of Cari­com’s found­ing fa­thers: Er­rol Bar­row from Bar­ba­dos, Forbes Burn­ham from Guyana, Michael Man­ley from Ja­maica and Dr Er­ic Williams from T&T.

“On­ly last week, we cel­e­brat­ed the 50th an­niver­sary of Cari­com in Venezuela with a se­ries of events, talks and cul­tur­al per­for­mances, where we were ho­n­oured to host the Prime Min­is­ter of St. Vin­cent and the Grenadines, the Ho­n­ourable Ralph Gon­salves. In my speech on the 50th an­niver­sary of Cari­com, I said that on­ly when we unite, we can be­come tru­ly free.”


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