Mem­bers of the Trinidad and To­ba­go Coast Guard (TTCG) are par­tic­i­pat­ing in a joint train­ing pro­gramme de­signed to en­hance par­tic­i­pants’ skills to ef­fec­tive­ly con­duct mar­itime op­er­a­tions.

The Min­istry of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty says in an of­fi­cial state­ment that the Vis­it Board Search and Seizure (VB­SS) Train­ing Pro­gramme is a col­lab­o­ra­tive ef­fort be­tween the TTCG, the Cana­di­an Coast Guard, the High Com­mis­sion of Cana­da in Trinidad and To­ba­go and the Unit­ed Na­tions Of­fice on Drugs and Crime (UN­ODC).

The two-week pro­gramme, which fo­cus­es on board­ing pro­ce­dures and tac­tics, brings to­geth­er course par­tic­i­pants from mar­itime forces from the Do­mini­can Re­pub­lic, Ja­maica, and Trinidad and To­ba­go.

“This train­ing is op­por­tune as it is be­ing con­duct­ed at a time when coun­tries across the world face threats to bor­der se­cu­ri­ty brought on by transna­tion­al crim­i­nal ac­tiv­i­ties,” said Min­is­ter of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty the Ho­n­ourable Fitzger­ald Hinds M.P, dur­ing his re­marks at the train­ing pro­gramme’s Open­ing Cer­e­mo­ny on Mon­day 21 March 2022, at Coast Guard Head­quar­ters, Staubles Bay, Ch­aguara­mas.

“I want to thank the High Com­mis­sion of Cana­da in Trinidad and To­ba­go and the Unit­ed Na­tions Of­fice on Drugs and Crime (UN­ODC) for their con­tin­ued col­lab­o­ra­tion on mat­ters of na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty,” he added.

Oth­er key of­fi­cials in at­ten­dance at the launch of the train­ing pro­gramme were High Com­mis­sion­er of Cana­da to Trinidad and To­ba­go, His Ex­cel­len­cy Ku­mar Gup­ta; Chief of De­fence Staff, Air Vice Mar­shal Dar­ryl Daniel; Pro­gramme Co­or­di­na­tor, Unit­ed Na­tions Of­fice on Drugs and Crime, Jose­fi­na Otero; Deputy Man­ag­er of In­ter­na­tion­al Ca­pac­i­ty Build­ing, Cana­di­an Coast Guard, Do­minic Lebel; and Com­mand­ing Of­fi­cer of the Trinidad and To­ba­go Coast Guard, Cap­tain (Naval) Don Po­lo.