Path clear for doing business with India

NARENDRA MODI came bearing gifts. Secondary school students will get 2,000 laptops. A neem tree was planted at the Red House. Solar roofing is to be installed at the Ministry of Foreign and Caricom Affairs. Provided will be 20 dialysis machines, two sea ambulances, prosthetics and special "overseas citizen" status to sixth-generation members of the Indian diaspora.

Several deals were signed. There is to be co-operation on a range of matters, including biofuels, money transfers, stack tools, national security, forensics, disaster preparedness and pharmaceutical manufacturing.

All this was designed to transcend traditional notions of foreign aid.

The Indian Prime Minister wished to send a message – India means business. The government and private sector must take up this invitation.

The path to do so may be clear. The Kamla Persad-Bissessar administration’s engagement with Mr Modi follows several bilateral meetings between PNM officials and the Indian leader under the last administration. Former Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley met with Mr Modi in the United Kingdom on April 19, 2018, on the sidelines of the CHOGM summit held in London. They met again in the US on September 25, 2019, for the inaugural Caricom-India summit held in New York, and again on November 20, 2024, at the second such summit held in Georgetown, Guyana.

"The leaders discussed ways to strengthen bilateral relations in areas of digital transformation, health, defence and maritime security, transportation and cultural exchanges," said the Indian High Commission in a precis of these engagements.

Dr Rowley also engaged, ill-fatedly, with Indian private sector interests on the outstanding issue of Petrotrin assets.

While a segment of the local population has expressed grave concerns about the Modi administration’s stance on Muslims, the push to deepen this country’s embrace with India has nonetheless strengthened and has emerged as a non-partisan matter. The major parties see obvious benefits. The barrier of divisive politics, and the disruptions caused by election cycles, do not appear to stand in the way of business interests deepening trade. This is a rare window of opportunity.

At a time of global shocks, thanks to Donald Trump and the climate crisis, and the arbitrary abandonment of traditional alliances, the idea of South-South co-operation must be seen as more than just a fad.

This country’s signing on to a new air connection with Nigeria, new trade deals with Belize and Chile, the engagement of groups like the TTMA and the TT Chamber of Commerce with Guyana and St Kitts and Nevis – all of this cannot be a mere token gesture.

Convulsions within the Global North require safer harbours to weather coming storms.

The government must back up signing deals with tangible steps to improve the ease of doing business and to allow the flow of foreign investment.

Trade with India, the world’s fastest-growing economy, was estimated at $1.2 billion in 2024.

In the budget due in the coming months, Minister of Finance Davendranath Tancoo must state what steps will be taken to make that figure grow.