Bilateral cooperation renewed between Guyana, Trinidad

Georgetown: Cabinet has agreed to the renewal of the Framework Agreement for the deepening of bilateral cooperation between the governments of Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.

The Framework Agreement was signed between the two parties in August 1999 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and was valid for ten years initially and then renewed for five successive periods, but was never enacted.

However, State Minister, Joseph Harmon, disclosed that during the meetings on the margins of the 28th Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), held in February 2017, President David Granger and Trinidad’s Prime Minister, Keith Rowley agreed to give effect to the agreement.

The renewal will now be for a further ten years and provides for bilateral cooperation in trade and investment, agriculture, agro-processing, petroleum extraction, fisheries and the environment.

Minister Harmon said that a high-level commission comprising the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Finance, and Trade of both countries or their identified alternatives will oversee the implementation of the agreement.

The renewal, the Minister said, will strengthen the relationship between the two countries.