Caine meets Persad-Bissessar on security cooperation

Chair­man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen­er­al Dan Caine met with Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar in Port of Spain for talks on se­cu­ri­ty co­op­er­a­tion be­tween the Unit­ed States and Trinidad and To­ba­go.

Ac­cord­ing to Joint Staff Spokesper­son Joseph Hol­stead, Caine and Per­sad-Bisses­sar met with mem­bers of the cab­i­net to re­view the part­ner­ship be­tween both states and out­line pri­or­i­ties linked to re­gion­al se­cu­ri­ty. The dis­cus­sion cov­ered is­sues con­nect­ed to nar­cotics move­ment, arms move­ment, hu­man traf­fick­ing, and ac­tiv­i­ties tied to transna­tion­al crim­i­nal groups that op­er­ate across the Caribbean.

Caine and Per­sad-Bisses­sar spoke on the role of co­op­er­a­tion be­tween both states in con­fronting these chal­lenges. The chair­man not­ed that co­or­di­na­tion be­tween the Unit­ed States and Trinidad and To­ba­go sup­ports ef­forts to lim­it threats that af­fect the re­gion. Per­sad-Bisses­sar and mem­bers of the cab­i­net out­lined the po­si­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go on mat­ters that in­flu­ence sta­bil­i­ty in the Caribbean and raised points tied to joint work al­ready in progress.

Caine stat­ed that the Unit­ed States val­ues the po­si­tion tak­en by Trinidad and To­ba­go on re­gion­al is­sues and point­ed to ar­eas in which both states con­tin­ue to en­gage. He said the Unit­ed States will con­tin­ue to work with this coun­try on plans that re­spond to shared con­cerns and on ac­tions that strength­en co­op­er­a­tion with Caribbean part­ners.

Hol­stead said the meet­ing re­flect­ed the in­tent of both sides to con­tin­ue di­a­logue on mat­ters that af­fect the re­gion and to sup­port work linked to re­gion­al se­cu­ri­ty.