PORT OF SPAIN – Trinidad and Tobago’s Government has embarked on a program to improve the image of its overseas missions.
At the November 29, 2005 official opening of the refurbished Chancery of the High Commission in London, Prime Minister Patrick Manning said refurbishing the country’s overseas missions was part of the plan to achieve developed country status by the year 2020.
In keeping with that vision, Mr. Manning said, Government had also taken steps to make Port of Spain the diplomatic centre of the Caribbean.
He highlighted Trinidad and Tobago’s nomination as host of the 2009 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). Port of Spain, he said, is also one of two candidates along with Columbia seeking to host the next Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) meeting scheduled for either late 2008 or early 2009.
He mentioned other developments that influenced Government’s decision to enhance the image of Trinidad and Tobago’s Overseas Missions. They included:
– An expected increase in gas production with the coming on stream of Train 4 of the LNG plant. The oil equivalent of the increased gas production, he said, would move from 550,000 to 800,000 barrels a day.
– An expected increase in its US market share for LNG (75 percent), with the start-up of the Train 4 LNG plant.
– 10 ammonia plants, making Trinidad and Tobago the largest exporter of ammonia in the world.
– The recent opening of the seventh methanol plant with production capacity of 54 metric tones a day that boosted Trinidad and Tobago’s position to being the leading producer and exporter of methanol in the world.
– Constructing six energy based plants in 2006 with a total investment of US$7.4 billion, employing 17,000 persons in the construction phase and 3,025 in the production phase.
– An increase in tourist arrivals in Tobago reaching 89,000 in 2005, the highest number recorded to date.
– The move to free tertiary education from January 1, 2006, to achieve 60 percent university education for eligible nationals by the year 2015, from the current level of about 25 percent.
– Enhancing basic infrastructure by constructing 6 more sea ports, rail and road networks and increasing electricity and water production.
