Trinidad and Tobago, Oman establish diplomatic ties

TRINIDAD and Tobago has established diplomatic ties with Oman.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Foreign and Caricom Affairs Ministry said this happened during a signing ceremony at the Permanent Mission of Oman to the UN, in New York, on March 27.

The joint communique to announce the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries was signed by TT's permanent representative to the UN Dennis Francis and by Oman's permanent representative to the UN Mohammed bin Awad Al Hassan.

Francis is TT's candidate for the post of president of the UN General Assembly (UNGA).TT's bid for the UNGA president was launched in New York on April 1.

Before the signing Francis and Al Assan acknowledged the strong ties of friendship and co-operation that have existed between TT and Oman on different levels.

These include being members of the bloc of developing countries in the UN, the Group of 77 and the Non-Aligned Movement.

Francis and Al Assan said both countries wish to build on these existing ties through their new diplomatic relationship. This process will focus on the multilateral and bilateral context in areas such as energy investment, technology, sustainable development and tourism

The establishment of diplomatic relations with Oman means TT now has diplomatic relations with all member states of the Cooperation Council of the Gulf (GCC).

The GCC, founded on November 11, 1981, is a political and economic union of six Arab states in the Persian Gulf: Oman, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

The GCC's member states comprise an area of 2,673,108 square kilometres and an estimated total population of 65,607,000 people.