Pres­i­dent Chris­tine Kan­ga­loo and Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar have called on cit­i­zens to re­flect on the val­ues of re­silience, cre­ativ­i­ty, and shared re­spon­si­bil­i­ty as T&T cel­e­brates its 63rd In­de­pen­dence an­niver­sary.

In her na­tion­al mes­sage, Pres­i­dent Kan­ga­loo ac­knowl­edged that this year’s cel­e­bra­tions took place un­der a state of emer­gency, prompt­ing changes to tra­di­tion­al ob­ser­vances. She not­ed that these ad­just­ments have cre­at­ed op­por­tu­ni­ties for new and in­no­v­a­tive ways to com­mem­o­rate the day and high­light­ed the na­tion’s long his­to­ry of over­com­ing ad­ver­si­ty.

Kan­ga­loo cit­ed icon­ic ex­am­ples of na­tion­al in­ge­nu­ity, in­clud­ing the de­vel­op­ment of the steel­pan from dis­card­ed oil drums, the evo­lu­tion of Car­ni­val from colo­nial-era gath­er­ings, and the adap­ta­tion of es­tate ma­te­ri­als in­to the dhan­tal. She al­so ref­er­enced the per­sis­tence of re­li­gious prac­tices that sur­vived colo­nial sup­pres­sion, point­ing to the re­source­ful­ness of the peo­ple and their ca­pac­i­ty to rise above chal­lenges.

“While this year’s In­de­pen­dence cel­e­bra­tions dif­fer from the past, the con­stant is our na­tion’s re­silience,” Kan­ga­loo said, cit­ing ca­lyp­son­ian David Rud­der’s Ded­i­ca­tion to em­pha­sise how na­tion­al cul­ture has of­ten emerged from strug­gle. She urged cit­i­zens to cel­e­brate the na­tion’s strength and face the fu­ture with con­fi­dence.

Prime Min­is­ter Per­sad-Bisses­sar said In­de­pen­dence rep­re­sents more than a his­toric mile­stone; it is an on­go­ing promise of free­dom, equal­i­ty, op­por­tu­ni­ty, and progress. She ac­knowl­edged the sac­ri­fices of those who fought for self-gov­ern­ment, while stress­ing that much work re­mains to ful­ly re­alise the goals of In­de­pen­dence.

The Prime Min­is­ter iden­ti­fied key pri­or­i­ties, in­clud­ing safer com­mu­ni­ties, ex­pand­ed ed­u­ca­tion­al op­por­tu­ni­ties, health­i­er lifestyles, and in­creased in­vest­ment—steps she said are vi­tal for build­ing a na­tion ground­ed in fair­ness, jus­tice, pros­per­i­ty, and in­no­va­tion. She al­so stressed the im­por­tance of in­still­ing val­ues such as com­pas­sion, ser­vice, and self-be­lief in young cit­i­zens to en­sure every child grows up safe and able to reach their po­ten­tial.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar reaf­firmed her gov­ern­ment’s com­mit­ment to ad­dress­ing chal­lenges fac­ing cit­i­zens, in­clud­ing job cre­ation, fam­i­ly sup­port, and pro­tec­tion for vul­ner­a­ble groups. She added that while the gov­ern­ment leads, na­tion-build­ing re­quires the ac­tive par­tic­i­pa­tion of all cit­i­zens—teach­ers, doc­tors, farm­ers, en­tre­pre­neurs, par­ents, and stu­dents all con­tribute to the na­tion­al ef­fort.

She called for courage, uni­ty, and shared re­spon­si­bil­i­ty in fac­ing cur­rent chal­lenges and urged cit­i­zens not to be di­vid­ed by hard­ship. The Prime Min­is­ter con­clud­ed by thank­ing the pop­u­la­tion for their re­silience and ex­press­ing con­fi­dence in the na­tion’s po­ten­tial to achieve greater progress to­geth­er.

Both lead­ers ex­tend­ed best wish­es to cit­i­zens on the oc­ca­sion of T&T’s 63rd In­de­pen­dence an­niver­sary.