tidings
Newsday reporter
INDIAN Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Pabitra Margherita visited Trinidad and Tobago on August 23 to deepen ties between the two countries and their people.
This was the first ministerial-level visit to Trinidad and Tobago since April 2017, the Indian High Commission said in a press release on August 24.
During the visit, Margherita paid a courtesy call on the prime minister at the Diplomatic Center in St Ann.
The announcement said that he was also given a warm welcome at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Karikom Affairs, with a flag raising ceremony.
At the ministry, Margherita held talks with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Caricom, Dr Amery Browne, “on areas of common interest, including cooperation in digital transformation, health, agriculture, sports, cultural exchanges, etc.”
They discussed regional and global issues and signed an agreement authorizing the employment of dependents of members of a diplomatic mission or consular post in India and Trinidad and Tobago.
On August 24, Margherita also visited Parliament at the Red House in Port of Spain.
He also paid a courtesy call on Senate President Nigel de Freitas and Speaker of the House of Representatives Bridgid Annisette-George.
The Chair of the Speaker of the House was gifted to Trinidad and Tobago by India in 1968.
Gifts including a painting of the Red House were exchanged during the visit.
Margherita and Port of Spain Mayor Chinua Alleyne laid flowers at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the city.
A function was held at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Cultural Cooperation (MGICC), Mt Hope, where Margherita met members of the Indian diaspora in Trinidad and Tobago.
He also inaugurated an exhibition on “Ramleela Traditions in the Caribbean Region” at MGICC.
The release said the visit added a new impetus to the deep-rooted relations between India and Trinidad and Tobago. Reaffirming the continued commitment of both countries to strengthen their bilateral partnership and further deepen their people-to-people ties.
Businessman Sieunarine Coosal who attended the ceremony at MGICC brought greetings on behalf of the Indian diaspora in Trinidad and Tobago.
He said, “The Indo-Caribbean diaspora is relatively large, highly educated and successful. But beyond cultural cooperation there is great scope for closer strategic and economic ties between India and the Indo-Caribbean diaspora.”
The executive chairman of the Coosal Group of Companies called on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “initiate a program of state visits to usher in a new era of bilateral relations”.
He called for more cooperation in the field of agriculture, farming and food processing and the establishment of an Indo-Caribbean business council to boost bilateral trade.
