US Sec­re­tary of State Hillary Rod­ham Clin­ton, in con­grat­u­lat­ing this coun­try on its 47 years of in­de­pen­dence, reaf­firmed yes­ter­day the com­mit­ment of the US to work with T&T to strength­en the re­la­tion­ship of the two coun­tries. In a short mes­sage sent yes­ter­day, Clin­ton said she and US Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma were grate­ful for the warmth and hos­pi­tal­i­ty of the peo­ple of T&T when they vis­it­ed here for April's Sum­mit of the Amer­i­c­as.

"We val­ue the part­ner­ship be­tween the US and T&T, which is based on mu­tu­al re­spect and mu­tu­al in­ter­est. "Our two na­tions have much in com­mon–our val­ues, our his­to­ry and our hopes for a brighter fu­ture for the peo­ple of our Hemi­sphere." Clin­ton not­ed that many fam­i­lies in the US traced their roots to T&T, and they had con­tributed so much to the cul­ture and pros­per­i­ty of the US.

"Our warmest wish­es will be with the peo­ple of T&T as they take part in the In­de­pen­dence Day pa­rades and com­mem­o­ra­tions." She ac­knowl­edged the na­tion­al awards cer­e­mo­ny, which will be held at Pres­i­dent's House, and said it would cel­e­brate the spir­it and ac­com­plish­ments of a proud na­tion. "And the up­com­ing Com­mon­wealth Heads of Gov­ern­ment Meet­ing will once again pro­vide T&T with a well-de­served show­case of the world stage," she said.