Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela move to renew ties

A Trinidad and Tobago delegation is traveling to Caracas with three tonnes of medical supplies and humanitarian aid as the two countries seek to reopen a broader relationship.

Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Sean Sobers will lead the working visit, accompanied by Foreign Service chief Randall Karim and Americas Division head Claire de Bourg. Venezuela’s ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, Alvaro Enrique Sanchez Cordero, is also expected to join the delegation.

The group is scheduled to meet Venezuelan Foreign Relations and Foreign Trade Minister Felix Plasencia and other officials before returning to Trinidad later the same day. The talks are expected to address enhanced trade and economic cooperation, agriculture and other areas of mutual benefit.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the renewed relationship would not focus solely on energy. She pointed to the countries’ long history and recalled cordial dealings with Venezuelan officials, including interim President Delcy Rodriguez. Persad-Bissessar also said she has family ties to Venezuela through her husband, Greg.

Sobers credited Persad-Bissessar’s diplomatic relationships with Venezuela and the United States for helping drive the meeting. He also linked the visit to progress on the cross-border Loran-Manatee gas-field agreement, whose implementation advanced during Persad-Bissessar’s first administration in 2011. Trinidad and Tobago previously sent 230 tonnes of relief supplies to Venezuela after devastating earthquakes, along with medical equipment by air cargo.

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working visit