CreativeTT, the umbrella company which administers the State's involvement in the creative sector, was born out of Government's firm belief that the sector has the capacity to become one of the most important in the economy, Trade Minister Vasanty Bharath said in his address at ModeTT, a fashion export showcase.
"We are proud to showcase our talent, our innovation, and our ingenuity as a people. The absence of monopolies on innovation and imagination throughout the world today has led to a phenomenon where industries with their roots in culture and creativity are increasingly becoming an important source of jobs and wealth creation.
"The Government has observed this phenomenon and as a result has seen it fit to aid the diversification process through the development of the creative industries," he told guests at the event at the Radisson Hotel in Port-of-Spain.
Bharath said CreativeTT has a mandate to "stimulate and facilitate the business and export activities of the creative industries in Trinidad and Tobago to generate national wealth."
ModeTT is the culmination of a project arising from ExporTT's third CARTFUND Mission to the French Caribbean in November.
Creative TT, through its subsidiary FashionTT, has worked with Export TT to produce a follow-up trade mission to the French Caribbean Outermost Regions (FCORs). This project has taken the form of a comprehensive LookBook featuring the designs and merchandise of T&T's designers. The LookBook, will be distributed to buyers in Martinique, Guadeloupe and St Martin.
Guests at the showcase included Stacy Roopnarine, Minister in the Ministry of Gender, Youth and Child Development; Jacqueline Charles, Permanent Secretary (Ag), Ministry of Trade; Robert Tang Yuk, chairman, ExporTT; Richie Sookhai, deputy chairman, InvesTT; and Dr Gillian Paul, acting president, College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of T&T.