– as Pres Ali, PM Persad-Bissessar agree on working group to remove trade barriers

President Dr Irfaan Ali and Prime Minister (PM) of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) Kamla Persad-Bissessar have agreed on a development, trade, and economic agenda aimed at deepening bilateral relations and advancing greater integration between the people and economies of the two countries.
This commitment was made during a high-level engagement in Port-of-Spain on Friday between the two Caribbean leaders.

President Dr Irfaan Ali with T&T PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar during the high-level meeting in Port of Spain on Friday

President Ali travelled to the Twin-Island Republic on Friday to deliver the feature address at the T&T Chamber of Industry and Commerce Annual Meeting. While there, President Ali and his delegation, comprising several cabinet Ministers, met with the Trinidadian PM and her team.
According to a brief statement from the Office of the President following the bilateral engagement, “…the two leaders discussed key areas including food security and investment opportunities, energy integration, technology exchange, human capital development, and strengthening security.”
These discussions also paved the way for the two countries to work on tackling trade barriers.
“They also agreed to establish a working group to remove trade barriers and improve competitiveness,” the missive detailed.

Reciprocal visit
It was further agreed that PM Persad-Bissessar would undertake an official visit to Guyana, leading a joint working group comprising Private Sector representatives from both countries that would be tasked with addressing development challenges and unlocking new opportunities for the two sides.
Meanwhile, during the high-level engagement, President Ali also thanked the Prime Minister for her strong support for Guyana’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, expressing appreciation on behalf of the people of Guyana.
“It was also agreed that both Governments would continue to collaborate closely on the areas discussed in order to deepen the bilateral relationship between Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana,” PM Persad-Bissessar added in a similar statement.
President Ali was accompanied by Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat; Minister of Public Utilities and Aviation, Deodat Indar; Minister of Public Service, Government Efficiency, and Implementation, Zulfikar Ally; and Minister of Labour and Manpower Planning, Keoma Griffith, along with other Government officials and Private Sector representatives.
The T&T Prime Minister was joined by Attorney General John Jeremie; Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Sean Sobers; Minister of Public Utilities Barry Padarath; and Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Roodal Moonilal during Friday’s meeting.

President Dr Irfaan Ali addressing the T&T Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Annual Business Meeting on Friday at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain

72-hour engagement
This commitment by the two leaders to work on addressing trade barriers between Guyana and T&T comes as the Guyanese Private Sector, as well as the Government, continues to bemoan the restrictions that hinder free trade between the two Caribbean nations.
In fact, President Ali, during his address at the T&T Chamber’s Annual Business Meeting earlier on Friday, called for the two countries to come together for a 72-hour period to iron out the bureaucratic issues that pose hindrances to a strong economic partnership.
“If we care about partnership, if we care about building consortiums, and if we care about building a joint economic front between Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, then we must care about fixing the problem. Let’s get in that room, lock ourselves up for 72 hours, and fix the damn problem,” the Guyanese leader declared during his address at the event in Port of Spain.
President Ali, questioned by reporters in Trinidad following his remarks, declared that he and the Guyanese Government are ready to sit down and fix these issues. “It is needed. We all know it is needed. It is critically needed,” he emphasised.

Artificial barriers
Only back in February, the Guyanese head of state had renewed calls for the removal of what he had described as “artificial barriers” and bureaucracy surrounding trade with T&T
“A major issue is us getting our goods into Trinidad without the bureaucracy and without the type of delays that we face. I believe that the time has come for those barriers – the artificial barriers – to be removed and the bureaucracy to be removed so that we can facilitate trade in a more efficient way and facilitate the movement of goods in a more efficient way,” Dr Ali told reporters on the side-lines of the 50th Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government Meeting in St Kitts and Nevis.
For years, Guyanese companies have been complaining bitterly about the trade restrictions encountered with the twin-island republic, which is allowed to freely export its products to Guyana with ease.
In recent years, local businesses have encountered issues with products such as honey and dairy items that were blocked during transhipment through Trinidad.
Back in 2024, however, it was revealed that more than 50 items were cleared for free trading as Guyana, Barbados, and Trinidad advanced on a regional ferry service to move people and goods.
Minister Indar, who is Guyana’s lead representative on the regional body set up to oversee the operationalisation of the regional ferry service, had indicated that current trade restrictions on some 54 products, including ground provisions and fresh fruits, would be removed when the regional ferry service comes on stream.
Initially, a total of 67 items were identified as problematic regarding trading within the region, and these were divided into two priority groups, A and B, to have the trade restrictions on them removed.
“They have about 13 items in Priority B that are difficult and the countries need to fix to get normalised procedures for free trade. But there were 54 items that you could work with from the get-go while you worked on the others. And that is what we approved,” the Minister had previously stated, noting that each country had its own type of barriers impacting free trade.

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