WASHINGTON, DC – The Honourable Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is scheduled to depart Trinidad and Tobago on Monday, November 8, 2010, for a three day official visit to the United States to primarily engage in bilateral discussions with US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.
This meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 10, 2010, at the office of the Secretary of State at 2201 C STREET, Washington.
While the meeting’s agenda is open, the Hon. Prime Minister and the US Secretary of State are expected to discuss major economic, social and political issues affecting the Western Hemisphere as well as have in-depth bilateral discussions about the issues directly dealing with US/Trinidad and Tobago/CARICOM relations, with a primary focus on the state of the global and regional economy and the impact of the global financial crisis on developing countries, trade relations, the energy industry, national and regional diversification efforts, the narco trade, border protection and other security issues, Haiti and the possibility of increased humanitarian aid to CARICOM in light of the recent natural disasters to hit the region.
PM Kamla Persad-Bisseser
The Prime Minister is also expected to inform the US Secretary of State of the various new initiatives taken by her People’s Partnership Government in its five months in office thus far to promote economic and social growth and development for not only Trinidad and Tobago, but also the entire CARICOM region, such as the Children’s Life Fund and the Helping Hand projects.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is also scheduled to present the US Secretary of State with an official gift from the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, as well as extend to her an official invitation to visit Trinidad and Tobago to promote and further their regional bilateral conversations, with a view to forging an even stronger economic, social and general alliance with the United States which, historically, has been this country’s key ally in the Western Hemisphere.
While in the United States, the Prime Minister will also honour an official invitation from the prestigious Ivy League Harvard University’s Faculty Law School to deliver a special lecture to a symposium on the theme of Leadership and Cooperation. This is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, November 9th, 2010 at Harvard University, Faculty Harvard Law School Pound Hall in Cambridge, Massachusetts and it is being held under the sponsorship of the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Harvard International Negotiation Program.
Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar is also slated to receive a prestigious 2010 Women of the Year award from the US-Based Glamour Magazine, which is this year honouring five of the top female global leaders from developing countries around the world. She will be receiving this award alongside counterparts like Liberia’s President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Croatia’s Prime Minister Jadranka Cosor, Slovakia’s Prime Minister Iveta Radicova and Lithuania’s President, Dalia Grybauskaite. Glamour Magazine has announced that these top female leaders are being given these awards in recognition of their pioneering successes in their countries that have significantly contributed to the global empowerment of women and girls.
This ceremony is due to take place on Monday, November 8, 2010, at Carnegie Hall, New York.
Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar is also scheduled to hold an official meeting with the US Permanent Representative of the United Nations, Susan Rice on Tuesday, November 9, 2010, at the UN’s offices in New York.
She is further scheduled to deliver an address at the Council of Ambassadors meeting of the Organization of American States on Wednesday November 10, 2010 at the OAS Headquarters in Washington.
The Prime Minister is carded to return to Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday, November 11, 2010. She will be accompanied on this official trip by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Honourable Dr Surujrattan Rambachan.
The Minister of Finance the Honourable Winston Dookeran will act as Prime Minister in her absence.
