CITIZENS of Trinidad and Tobago will now be able to take advantage of the added fights with Curacao.
A bilateral agreement on air services between Trinidad and Tobago and Curacao was signed yesterday by Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan and Curacao’s Minister of Traffic, Transport and Urban Planning, Charles Cooper. The signing took place at the head office of the Ministry of Works and Transport on London Road in Port of Spain.
Sinanan said that citizens tend to associate the ministry with road works, land and sea transport, without knowing that air transport falls under his competence.
On the agreement with Curacao, he said the world has become a global village and without sufficient air transport, Trinidad and Tobago will be left behind.
He said the deal took the Permanent Negotiating Committee on Air Services Agreements about eight years to complete.
“Last week we signed with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Dubai and the comments coming from that, for me, were surprising. They said it took 13 years to get to that point,” Sinanan added.
He also revealed that the committee was currently working on many other similar agreements with other countries. For 2024, he said an agreement with Qatar will be signed by February and another will be signed with Ghana soon.
He emphasized that such agreements would benefit Trinidad and Tobago because it meant further development of the country’s tourism industry as well as increased opportunities for trade, among many others.
Chairman of the Permanent Negotiating Committee on Air Services Agreements Anthony Vieira said before the signing yesterday, transport between Trinidad and Tobago and Curacao was initially facilitated by a 1997 agreement with the Kingdom of the Netherlands regarding the Dutch Caribbean territories.
However, that agreement did not take into account Curacao’s autonomous status, and under that agreement, Caribbean Airlines was only allowed to operate two flights a week.
“The air services agreement between Trinidad and Tobago and the Netherlands in respect of Curacao is a moderately liberal agreement that facilitates up to six freedoms of traffic for passenger services and up to seven freedoms for cargo services with few restrictions,” it said Vieira.
Vieira also said that citizens of Trinidad and Tobago will now be offered the opportunity to take advantage of Curacao as a tourist destination known for its beaches, cultural heritage and nightlife.
The agreement will also provide travelers from both countries with increased transit points when flying to other destinations, Vieira said.
“For example, Curacao recently entered into an agreement with the Turkish airline Corendon to bring tourists from the Netherlands to the island, and those flights will also connect to Germany,” he said.
Reiterating the potential for expanding trade opportunities between the countries, he recalled: “In 2021, Trinidad and Tobago exported over $25 million in goods to the island (Curacao) consisting mainly of margarine, flavored water and tissues.”
