Trinidad and Tobago committed to fighting transnational crime

TRINIDAD and Tobago has repeated its commitment towards fighting transnational crime. That commitment was repeated by members of the government's delegation who are in New York for a the 80th UN General Assembly.

A statement issued by the Foreign and Caricom Affairs Ministry on September 25 said parliamentary secretary Nicholas Morris delivered an address at the High-Level Dialogue on Dismantling Transnational Criminal Activity in the Western Hemisphere, on the fringes of the General Assembly.

The ministry said Morris in his address repeated TT's commitment to combatting organized crime, illicit arms trafficking and other threats to peace and development through coordinated regional action.

In a separate engagement, Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Sean Sobers participated in the Annual Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Group of 77 and China (G77).

Sobers used this forum to reiterate TT's strong support for South-South co-operation and the advancement of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

He later joined his Caricom at a private luncheon of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR).

The ministry's permanent secretary Randall Karim represented TT at a meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union.

CELAC members include Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil , Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Granada, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia and St. Kitts and Nevis.

CELAC has publicly condemned the deployment of US naval forces in the southern Caribbean Sea.

The US has claimed the deployment is an anti-narcotics exercise and not a prelude to any military incursion.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar who has publicly supported the deployment, said TT will not engage Caricom on this issue and if requested by the US, will allow American military forces access to TT territory if the US plans to counter any Venezuelan incursion into Guyana.

Venezuela and Guyana have a long running dispute over the Essequibo region which exists between their borders.