This country is moving to establish a diplomatic presence in additional locations worldwide, including in Mexico, says Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran. He made the statement during the budget debate in Parliament yesterday. “We have already begun to hold discussions for a Caricom presence in other parts of the world. It’s a new initiative where we are trying to establish a Caricom presence where none of us has been before.
“The United Arab Republic, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are three countries that have been earmarked based on their interests. So there is an expansion that is taking place with respect to our representation,” Dookeran said. He said the Turkish government recently announced its plan to establish an embassy in T&T as part of its global outreach for the region.
“These developments are developments that are building the institutions for the future based on the fact that T&T is now positioned to play a pronounced role in international affairs,” Dookeran added. On the UK visa, Dookeran said the UK Government informed this country that they had some concerns with the security aspects of the visa.
“They indicated that we need to correct and fix it and they would work with us to do so. No decision has been made with respect to the removal of the visa regime of the UK. “But a decision to cooperate and to resolve that issue has been agreed upon,” Dookeran said. He said National Security Minister Gary Griffith led a team to London a few months ago on security and immigration matters.
“The UK also sent a team. About a month ago we signed a security cooperation agreement with the United Kingdom, all part of our steps to ensure that we are on the same page when it comes to the security concerns—it’s a global concern,” Dookeran added.