For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs Min­is­ter Dr Amery Browne has af­firmed the Gov­ern­ment’s com­mit­ment to strength­en­ing diplo­mat­ic re­la­tions with Qatar and not­ed the im­por­tance of an em­bassy in en­hanc­ing bi­lat­er­al co­op­er­a­tion.

Speak­ing dur­ing the Stand­ing Fi­nance Com­mit­tee of the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives yes­ter­day on the al­lo­ca­tion of $262 mil­lion to his min­istry, Browne ex­plained that there was sig­nif­i­cant in­ter­est in de­vel­op­ing re­la­tions in the north­east­ern coast of the Ara­bi­an Penin­su­la.

“The Mid­dle East is an area of in­tense at­ten­tion and great op­por­tu­ni­ty and prospects for Trinidad and To­ba­go,” he said.

“The mem­ber and com­mit­tee would be aware that Trinidad and To­ba­go is very well en­gaged with a num­ber of in­ter­na­tion­al part­ners in­clud­ing those in that re­gion. We are be­ing court­ed by a num­ber of the larg­er more pow­er­ful coun­tries and it is a sign of the pres­tige of Trinidad and To­ba­go.”

While re­spond­ing to ques­tions from Op­po­si­tion MP Rod­ney Charles about a $500,000 al­lo­ca­tion for the de­vel­op­ment pro­gramme, Browne con­firmed that a lo­cal team had been de­ployed to un­der­take the nec­es­sary ground work in Do­ha for the es­tab­lish­ment of an em­bassy.

“The un­der­tak­ing to en­gage in this ex­plo­ration for Do­ha, Qatar, re­mains in place, we have sent a team, we have har­vest­ed some in­for­ma­tion, ad­di­tion­al in­for­ma­tion is be­ing await­ed from stake­hold­ers on the ground in Qatar, where we are putting to­geth­er a pack­age,” he said.

Qatar has tremen­dous in­flu­ence as a trust­ed me­di­a­tor be­tween ri­vals in the Gulf re­gion and is one of the world’s largest ex­porters of nat­ur­al gas.

Browne was al­so asked about the 2024 al­lo­ca­tion of $500,000 for the es­tab­lish­ment of a T&T High Com­mis­sion in Bar­ba­dos, de­spite no mon­ey be­ing spent.

He said, “This project is re­ceiv­ing some fur­ther at­ten­tion and con­sid­er­a­tion which is why we have not re­ceived any al­lo­ca­tion at this time. There are a num­ber of con­sid­er­a­tions, this min­istry will not be the fi­nal de­ter­mi­nant these are mat­ters usu­al­ly the cab­i­net and Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter would have a key hand in.”