Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar at yesterday’s annual general meeting of
the American Chamber of Commerce of T&T at the Trinidad Hilton, St Ann’s. At right
is Hugh Howard, vice-president of AmCham T&T. PHOTO: NICOLE DRAYTON

22/03/2012 (Trinidad Guardian) - T&T is interested in using bunkering facilities at the Panama Canal. Guatemala wants to set up a palm oil refinery in T&T. And the Central American country wants to buy T&T’s bitumen, natural gas and cement. Those were some of the opportunities Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar outlined to members of the American Chamber of Commerce of T&T (AmCham) yesterday at its annual general meeting at the Trinidad Hilton, St Ann’s.

Of Guatemala’s palm oil proposal, Persad-Bissessar said: “We were very interested in their proposal to examine the feasibility of setting up a palm oil refinery in T&T. We have the energy, they have the palm oil.” She said from April 11-13, the first round of negotiations with Guatemala will begin in T&T regarding a partial scope agreement.

And from April 16-19, a trade mission will leave for Guatemala, during which T&T will explore that country’s education, financial services and energy sector. Indicating that her topic was on south-south trade relations, with a focus on Central and Latin America, as catalysts for development, Persad-Bissessar said T&T must aggressively pursue diversification of the economy from energy.

Defining newly-established relations with Guatemala and Panama, the prime minister said T&T is determined to pursue deeper trade relations with Central American markets. She told the roomful of business executives that in T&T the qualities of strategic geographic location, natural resources and the ability to facilitate access to Caricom should be used to extend T&T’s reach to Central and South America.

About her two-day visit to Panama earlier this month, Persad-Bissessar said a memorandum of understanding was signed with the Panamanian government over T&T’s energy sector. “They are very interested in buying bitumen, natural gas, cement, tiles and clay tiles.” She said the Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli will be leading a delegation to T&T in May and is due to speak at the Caribbean Investment Forum, which will be held from May 14-15. He is also due to attend the 2012 Trade and Investment Convention which will be held from May 16-19.