Trinidad’s Tourism Minister calls for easier visa process for T&T and Japanese nationals
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Trinidad & Tobago’s Minister of Tourism the Honourable Dr. Rupert Griffith, recently held talks with Japan’s Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kato Toshiyuki, on a visa on arrival facility for Trinidad and Tobago nationals.
Minister Griffith raised the discussion while attending the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) 12th Annual Global Summit which was hosted in the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Sendai. Both Minister Griffith and Vice-Minister Toshiyuki, who discussed the issue of reciprocal arrangements for obtaining a visa on arrival for nationals of both Trinidad and Tobago and Japan, also committed to ask their respective national airlines to open a dialogue on airlift between the two nations.
Trinidad and Tobago’s tourism minister also invited the Government of Japan to undertake an exchange of tourism personnel with the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to promote the sharing of technical expertise and experiences.
The most influential travel and tourism event of the year, the WTTC Global Summit brings together approximately 1000 industry leaders from around the world to tackle pressing issues facing the tourism industry. This year’s summit was hosted from April 17th to 19th.
Attendance at the WTTC Global Summit is by invitation of the World Travel & Tourism Council and the Global Summit Host Committee and reserved for leaders of travel and tourism enterprises and organisations in the private sector, or organisations which participate in public sector policy and sector support.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Tourism the Honourable Dr Rupert Griffith (second from left) presents a copper replica of a steelpan, Trinidad and Tobago’s National Instrument, to Japan’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kato Toshiyuki (second from right). Also on hand for the presentation was Mr Cornell Buckradee (left), General Manager, Marketing, Tourism Development Company of Trinidad and Tobago and Mr. Yasushi Noguchi, Director, Mexico, C. America, & Caribbean Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan (right).