Venezuela delegation to seek economic partnerships in T&T

Gail Alexan­der

A del­e­ga­tion of Venezue­lan pub­lic and pri­vate-sec­tor of­fi­cials from Su­cre State will vis­it Trinidad and To­ba­go next week to seek eco­nom­ic part­ner­ships and strength­en bi­lat­er­al ties.

The vis­it was an­nounced by the press of­fice of the Venezue­lan Em­bassy in Trinidad and To­ba­go.

Su­cre, lo­cat­ed on Venezuela’s north­ern coast, has an econ­o­my based on fish­ing, agri­cul­ture and tourism. Its pop­u­la­tion is al­most the same size as that of Trinidad and To­ba­go.

The del­e­ga­tion will con­duct an of­fi­cial vis­it from Mon­day to Wednes­day and com­pris­es rep­re­sen­ta­tives from both the pub­lic and pri­vate sec­tors.

An em­bassy state­ment said the vis­it aims at “deep­en­ing the bonds of friend­ship and co­op­er­a­tion be­tween Venezuela and Trinidad and To­ba­go, with a spe­cif­ic fo­cus on eco­nom­ic part­ner­ship [and] cul­tur­al ex­change”.

“This vis­it pro­vides an op­por­tu­ni­ty to con­nect our busi­ness com­mu­ni­ties, strength­en cul­tur­al ties and iden­ti­fy prac­ti­cal ar­eas for co­op­er­a­tion. We look for­ward to dis­cus­sions that can lead to last­ing part­ner­ships and new op­por­tu­ni­ties for both coun­tries,” the em­bassy added.

The pro­ceed­ings will be­gin with a cul­tur­al gala on Mon­day at 6 pm at Mille Fleurs. The evening will fea­ture a per­for­mance by Venezue­lan mu­si­cian Er­ic Cotúa, who is from Su­cre State.

The em­bassy said the del­e­ga­tion will con­clude the gala by do­nat­ing a col­lec­tion of Venezue­lan cu­a­tros to var­i­ous cul­tur­al or­gan­i­sa­tions in Trinidad and To­ba­go. The ges­ture is in­tend­ed to sup­port lo­cal cul­tur­al de­vel­op­ment and cel­e­brate the shared mu­si­cal her­itage of the two coun­tries.

On Tues­day, Oc­to­ber 27, from 9.30 am to 4 pm, the del­e­ga­tion will host a busi­ness round­table at the Hilton Ho­tel in part­ner­ship with the Trinidad and To­ba­go En­er­gy Cham­ber.

Dis­cus­sions will fo­cus on iden­ti­fy­ing prac­ti­cal op­por­tu­ni­ties for co­op­er­a­tion in sev­er­al ar­eas, in­clud­ing trade and com­merce, with an em­pha­sis on mar­ket ac­cess, ex­port op­por­tu­ni­ties, busi­ness part­ner­ships and in­vest­ment.

Mar­itime con­nec­tiv­i­ty will al­so be dis­cussed, in­clud­ing ship­ping links, port ser­vices, lo­gis­tics and mar­itime busi­ness op­por­tu­ni­ties.

Tourism will be an­oth­er fo­cus, with dis­cus­sions on joint pro­mo­tion, trav­el con­nec­tions, tourism in­vest­ment and ex­changes be­tween in­dus­try op­er­a­tors.

The talks will al­so ex­plore cul­tur­al ex­changes, fes­ti­vals, cre­ative en­ter­prise and op­por­tu­ni­ties for artists and cul­tur­al or­gan­i­sa­tions.

Su­cre State is fa­mil­iar to some Trinidad and To­ba­go na­tion­als, par­tic­u­lar­ly through its cap­i­tal, Cumaná, and its port towns of Güiria and Carú­pano.