In addressing maritime security, no one government has all the answers, said Michael Brown, representative of the United States Coast Guard. He was speaking at the opening ceremony of sub-regional workshop on maritime security, risk assessment and management at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.
National Security Minister Jack Warner, who was supposed to deliver the feature address, did not show as he opted to visit families in Felicity who were affected by flooding on Monday. The two-day workshop brought together 12 regional countries and was held in collaboration with the US Coast Guard and the Canadian Government.
Among the topics to be discussed are:
• Vessel risk assessment and management techniques;
• Port security risk assessment tool; and
• Risk assessment and management techniques
Brown, who is also chief of the international port security programme, said no single country could combat drug trafficking and other crime-related scourges by itself. Urging collaborative efforts, Brown added: "We all know that the enemies that we face are creative, inventive and ruthless. As we develop a counter-measure they seek to develop a different sort of threat.
"That's why risk assessments and looking at the risk our enemies might pose is so important." Nicholas Letts, project manager of the maritime and security programme of the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism of the Organisation of American States, said it was vital maritime security was not overlooked.
He said: "With over 90 per cent of international trade being conducted, via global waterways, security at core facilties should be a priority. "The inter-connected nature of the global supply chain invariably means that any incident or threat in one of the ports of the region will have negative consequences far beyond that single port or country and it is in our collective interest to work together to ensure borders are adequately protected."