[UPDATED] Trinidad Saudi Chamber warns Soleimani's death can affect TT

The death of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani can directly impact TT's energy sector, according to chairman of the Trinidad Saudi Chamber of Commerce Umar Khan on Saturday.

Speaking with Newsday, Khan said while he was still researching the circumstances and impacts of Soleimani's death he said it could impact our economy, noting the oil and gas sectors.

Soleimani was killed after a US sanctioned drone strike in Iraq on Friday.

In the wake of Soleimani's death, the Financial Times reported that oil prices spiked as US and Iranian relations have soured.

American Chamber of Commerce of TT (Amcham) CEO Nirad Tewarie, however, said it was too early to anticipate what economic implications increasing tension between the US and Iran could have on TT and the region.

Tewarie said in the wake of Soleimani's death, economic superpowers like China and Russia were beginning naval exercises and speculated that a change in shipping routes which may result could impact the transportation of oil and gas, thereby impacting energy producing nations like Trinidad.

"The question for us as a small state with no influence over those events is how do we set ourselves up to respond? On one hand, higher oil prices may help in that it will help us generate revenue but if international shipping is affected with the US being a large oil producer and exporter, if we can't get our product across the Atlantic or the Pacific Oceans, it may not result in anything significant in the medium or long term.

"The bigger issue is we have an opportunity to increase our trade within the Americas. The US for the first time in decades has developed a strategy for engagement in the Americas that was launched late last year and they are paying more attention to economic activities in the hemisphere."

He said this programme could open doors for the local energy sector to trade within the Americas if international transportation was affected and commended governments past and present for making such trade possible.

"We should trade more within the Americas because it's more feasible and I think some of the work that governments past and present have been doing over the decades has triggered exploration of trading with Chile and our Caricom neighbours.

"We should spend more time developing these relationships not just in the event of any kind of global conflict but more so now."

Newsday also spoke to CEO of the TT Energy Chamber Thackwray Driver who said while the issue was an interesting one, he did not have much to say on the matter.