Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon wants local manufacturers to consider operating round the clock to increase their output and boost exports.
The minister, recalling last month's effort to export to Venezuela, said she is satisfied that manufacturers were successful in entering that market but said it is now time for them to improve their export potential.
In late June, the Venezuelan government offered to purchase US$50 million in goods from T&T but manufacturers were only able to provide US$26 million worth.
Gopee-Scoon, who spoke with reporters on the sidelines of yesterday's Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Symposium at the Trinidad Hilton and Conference Centre, said the movement into Venezuela is a good start and might be "a signal to the manufacturers that they can in fact begin to look at a third shift, working seven days per week."
"That's what we want. It means increased jobs, increased opportunities for all, profit and foreign exchange earnings, so its a win win situation."
In a separate interview, T&T Manufacturers' Association (TTMA) president Dr Rolph Balgobin told the T&T Guardian manufacturers are ready to take another batch of goods into Venezuela next month. However, he is not yet able to say what the value of that shipment would be.
Gopee-Scoon said Venezuela might be a lucrative market for T&T and Government is very pleased that manufacturers were able to re-enter and had "done well" to penetrate that market.
"The discussions continue between the TTMA and the actual business people. We want to expand the products that we are sending to Venezuela. We are looking at hardware items that are manufactured in T&T. We are going to continue to support our manufacturers with their exports into Venezuela and Cuba," she said.
On the issue of manufacturers getting paid on time, the minister said T&T had started off on a successful footing by getting payment in advance from Venezuela. However, she added, there is need to look at the products or incentives offered by Eximbank so payment can be more timely, especially if T&T is to deepen its footprint in neighbouring markets.
She said: "We expect to sustain trade with that market as well and with Cuba. What it means is that we have to look at some of the products we are doing through Eximbank in terms of the discounting of trade and manufacturers' goods into these countries as well.
"Once we are able to get these discounting facilties going it means our manufacturers would in fact be paid ahead (of time) by the countries which they have exported to. We have confidence in these markets and we will continue to explore these markets...the Venezuelan and the Cuban markets. We are satisfied that payments are assured."
Gopee-Scoon said diversification not only means new products but new markets and Cuba provides a great opportunity for manufacturers and the business community.
"We really want to have a fair exchange. We have a good presence in T&T of Cuban health professionals and we expect these agreements to continue. We look as well at Cuban medication because they do manufacture medication there, the Minister of Health is looking at that.
"Cuba is an open market and it's there for both countries to benefit from-diversification yes, certainly into other markets. We've had tremendous growth there are a number of companies that are marketing there goods to Cuba without difficulty."