MIAMI – The Consul General of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Miami, Dr. Anil Ramnanan, in fulfilment of his directive to promote the interests of the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and service the needs of the Diaspora community, in February 2012, led a team from the Consulate in Miami, on an outreach effort to New Orleans, Louisiana and Atlanta, Georgia. The jurisdiction of the Consulate includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
The five day mission included a combination of economic networking efforts and the provision of consular services to Trinidad and Tobago nationals resident in the visited states. Meetings were held across the states with representatives of both state entities and the private sector in an effort to promote business partnerships and investment opportunities for nationals of Trinidad and Tobago both at home and in the United States.
While visiting Louisiana and Georgia, the Consul General met with other officials of the state and corporate sectors in an effort to encourage the participation of a delegation of state and private sector officials from Atlanta, Georgia, to attend the Caribbean Investment Forum (CIF) and the Trade and Investment Conference (TIC), which is scheduled to be held in Port of Spain in May 2012.
The immigration team who were part of the delegation conducted interviews for the Trinidad and Tobago Machine Readable Passports (MRP) or advised nationals on how to complete the MRP process. Where it was necessary, the team also provided passport extensions and started the process for nationals with lost or mutilated passports. Approximately 200 nationals were facilitated during the visit.
The Consul General and the Miami Consulate Immigration staff greet the nationals of Louisiana:(L-R) Joseph Ronalds; Indira Sooknanan;Dr. Anil Ramnanan,Consul General; Vanessa Meighoo, Consul Immigration; Janice Darbeau; Supt. Stirling Hackshaw, Consul Sec
In addition, a courtesy call was also paid to the Atlanta Chief of Police. Discussions focused on notification by the police department to the Consulate, regarding the arrest of Trinidad and Tobago nationals; expanding sister city relationships with Atlanta, Georgia and technical assistance from the Atlanta Police Department in the training of police officers in Trinidad and Tobago.
Other activities involved Dr. Anil Ramnanan attending a two day Energy Marketing Mission on February 28-29, 2012, in Houston, Texas. The delegation was led by the Honourable Kevin Ramnarine, Minister of Energy and Energy Affairs, and included the Permanent Secretary, as well as officials from Petrotrin, National Energy Corporation (NEC), National Petroleum (NP) and National Gas Company (NGC). The purpose of the mission was to identify and hold meetings with potential investment partners in the areas of upstream, refining and downstream industries.
