Di­ver­si­fi­ca­tion of the na­tion­al econ­o­my, with em­pha­sis on trade and in­vest­ment was among the dis­cus­sions when Min­is­ter of Trade, In­vest­ment and Tourism Satyaka­ma Ma­haraj and oth­er min­istry of­fi­cials met with rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the High Com­mis­sion for Cana­da and In­dia.

A re­lease from the Min­istry of Trade, In­vest­ment and Tourism said yes­ter­day the meet­ing with Michael Callan, High Com­mis­sion­er for Cana­da to T&T, un­der­scored the shared com­mit­ment of both coun­tries to fur­ther deep­en­ing bi­lat­er­al co­op­er­a­tion and un­lock­ing new av­enues for eco­nom­ic and cul­tur­al ex­change.

It said both par­ties agreed to con­tin­ue di­a­logue as they work to­ward mu­tu­al­ly ben­e­fi­cial out­comes.

Callan was ac­com­pa­nied by Sylvie Bé­dard, di­rec­tor gen­er­al for Cen­tral Amer­i­ca and the Caribbean, Glob­al Af­fairs Cana­da, Stu­art Shaw, coun­sel­lor, Po­lit­i­cal and Pub­lic Af­fairs and Michae­line Nar­cisse, trade com­mis­sion­er.

“The meet­ing un­der­scored the shared com­mit­ment of both coun­tries to fur­ther deep­en­ing bi­lat­er­al co­op­er­a­tion and un­lock­ing new av­enues for eco­nom­ic and cul­tur­al ex­change. Both par­ties agreed to con­tin­ue di­a­logue as they work to­ward mu­tu­al­ly ben­e­fi­cial out­comes,” the min­istry said.

It added it re­mained ded­i­cat­ed to strength­en­ing in­ter­na­tion­al part­ner­ships that dri­ve in­vest­ment, sup­port eco­nom­ic di­ver­si­fi­ca­tion, and align with this coun­try’s na­tion­al de­vel­op­ment agen­da.

Talks with rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the High Com­mis­sion for the Re­pub­lic of In­dia al­so echoed sim­i­lar sen­ti­ments, em­pha­sis­ing the growth of the man­u­fac­tur­ing sec­tor and tourism.

The min­istry added the en­gage­ment served as a reaf­fir­ma­tion of the strong part­ner­ship be­tween the two coun­tries, and as an op­por­tu­ni­ty to ex­plore av­enues for co­op­er­a­tion in sup­port of sus­tain­able eco­nom­ic growth and di­ver­si­fi­ca­tion.

The meet be­tween of­fi­cials of the Min­istry of Trade, In­vest­ment and Tourism and rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the In­di­an High Com­mis­sion in T&T, comes short­ly af­ter it was con­firmed that Prime Min­is­ter of In­dia, Naren­dra Mo­di, is sched­uled to make a diplo­mat­ic vis­it to Trinidad and To­ba­go in the first week of Ju­ly. That vis­it aims to dis­cuss strength­en­ing bi­lat­er­al re­la­tions be­tween the two coun­tries, of­fi­cials in both coun­tries said.

Prime Min­is­ters Per­sad-Bisses­sar and Mo­di are ex­pect­ed to sign sev­er­al Mem­o­ran­dums of Un­der­stand­ing will be signed to strength­en bi­lat­er­al re­la­tion­ships.

The two coun­tries are ex­pect­ed to be in talks of cul­ti­vat­ing clos­er ties with the dis­cus­sions ex­pect­ed in the fields of tech­nol­o­gy, dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion, trade, and cul­tur­al ex­change.

Af­ter leav­ing Port-of-Spain, the In­di­an Prime Min­is­ter is ex­pect­ed to vis­it Ar­genti­na and Brazil, to at­tend the BRICS sum­mit that will be host­ed in Rio de Janeiro from 5–8 Ju­ly.