Trinidad and Tobago to deepen trade with Singapore, Finland

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Paula Gopee-Scoon, has held bilateral meetings with Karen Tan, plenipotentiary representative of Singapore to Caricom, and Pertti Ikonen, non-resident Ambassador of Finland to TT.

At the talks, on July 7, they discussed measures for improving trade, investment, digitalisation and co-operation between TT and Singapore and TT and Finland.

Gopee-Scoon and Tan discussed co-operation in several areas, including trade, development of small to medium enterprises and digitalisation, a release from the ministry said.

Noting that digitalisation “can help countries leapfrog their economies,” Tan also shared information on potential collaborations, including Singapore’s co-operation programme and the forum of small states for technical assistance.

Tan expressed Singapore’s aim to increase its supply chains for agricultural products, noting the efforts TT has taken to implement the Caricom "25 per cent by 2025" plan to reduce the regional food import bill.

She also highlighted the potential for the tourism industry in TT through multi-destination tourism in conjunction with other Caribbean countries.

The two parties agreed to continue to work together towards strengthening trade and investment relations in key economic areas.

The release added that Tan also commended TT for hosting last week's 50th-anniversary celebrations of Caricom, coincided with the 45th regular meeting of Caricom heads of government.

Ikonen highlighted Finland’s advances in renewable energy and expressed a desire to increase collaboration with TT in this area. Gopee-Scoon and Ikonen also discussed co-operation in information and communication technology, particularly 5G technology, education and the film industry. They agreed to continue dialogue in these areas and pursue joint initiatives to realise commercial opportunities.