Young meets with Saudi development officials

Energy Minister Stuart Young met on Wednesday at his ministry with officials from the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD).

The Saudi Arabian government agency provides development assistance and grants to developing countries by financing social and infrastructural projects.

It also seeks to help countries achieve sustainable development goals and supports the economies of recipient countries by enhancing economic and social growth and opportunities.

Young and his permanent secretaries Penelope Bradshaw-Niles and Sandra Fraser met with SFD’s Yaser Albakri, director general of sectoral expertise, and Yaser Alzuwayed, director of development monitoring.

In a press release, the ministry said during the meeting Albakri outlined the SFD’s interest in working with the government to fund vital projects that will benefit communities and people.

Albakri said the fund is capitalised at approximately US$30 billion and already has a presence in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Young meanwhile welcomed the opportunity to strengthen the government-to-government relationship and business linkages between Saudi Arabia and TT.

He said TT remains an attractive territory for international business and investment and expressed the government’s willingness to collaborate with the SFD on energy-sector projects in the near future.

He added renewable-energy projects such as solar, wind and green hydrogen can be considered in this regard.