Busi­ness groups see the mul­ti­ple Mem­o­ran­da of Un­der­stand­ing (MoUs) be­tween T&T and In­dia as hav­ing the po­ten­tial to push mean­ing­ful trans­for­ma­tion across key sec­tors, in­clud­ing health, agri­cul­ture, re­new­able en­er­gy, jus­tice, ed­u­ca­tion and trade.

T&T Cham­ber of In­dus­try and Com­merce (T&T Cham­ber) chief ex­ec­u­tive of­fi­cer Vashti Guyadeen said the MoU on Phar­ma­copeial Co­op­er­a­tion opens the door to more af­ford­able, high-qual­i­ty gener­ic drugs, po­ten­tial­ly re­duc­ing na­tion­al health­care costs and im­prov­ing ac­cess for un­der­served com­mu­ni­ties.  

Guyadeen not­ed that the pro­vi­sions for rur­al de­vel­op­ment and agri­cul­ture can fa­cil­i­tate the trans­fer of In­dia’s in­no­va­tions in ir­ri­ga­tion, agri-tech, and val­ue chain in­te­gra­tion—ar­eas that have rev­o­lu­tionised its rur­al econ­o­my.  These, she said, can be adapt­ed to en­hance food se­cu­ri­ty and re­duce the coun­try’s high food im­port bill.

“The com­mit­ment to ca­pac­i­ty build­ing through the In­di­an Tech­ni­cal and Eco­nom­ic Co­op­er­a­tion (ITEC) Pro­gramme, along with the in­te­gra­tion of re­new­able en­er­gy so­lu­tions and digi­ti­sa­tion of the ed­u­ca­tion sec­tor, fur­ther strength­ens the foun­da­tion for sus­tain­able so­cio-eco­nom­ic growth.”

Guyadeen shared her con­nec­tion to In­dia’s de­vel­op­ment jour­ney, hav­ing been a re­cip­i­ent of a Gov­ern­ment of In­dia-fund­ed schol­ar­ship in the year 2000.

Point Lisas/Cou­va Cham­ber pres­i­dent De­o­raj Ma­hase said the MOUs signed are wel­come, es­pe­cial­ly con­sid­er­ing the econ­o­my and the need for fur­ther growth and de­vel­op­ment.

Ma­hase point­ed out that the do­na­tion of lap­tops, dial­y­sis ma­chines, am­bu­lances, and pros­thet­ic limbs is a step in the right di­rec­tion, which will chart the path for fur­ther co­op­er­a­tion be­tween both coun­tries for their mu­tu­al ben­e­fits.

He said the MOUs al­so play a part in crime fight­ing.

“Foren­sics and jus­tice build­ing ca­pac­i­ties are wel­comed and should great­ly as­sist in solv­ing crime and im­prov­ing the court process.”

It is an­tic­i­pat­ed Ma­hase said that fur­ther av­enues will be pur­sued in trade de­vel­op­ment for var­i­ous sec­tors in the busi­ness com­mu­ni­ty, in­clud­ing man­u­fac­tur­ing, im­ports, and ex­ports.  

Com­ment­ing on the op­por­tu­ni­ties, Fyz­abad Cham­ber of Com­merce Pres­i­dent Ang­ie Jairam said the grants for Quick Im­pact Projects (QIP’s) and lo­cal agree­ments for fund­ing of small-scale projects ($50,000) should be ben­e­fi­cial to the SME’S and hope it im­pacts pos­i­tive­ly in com­mu­ni­ty build­ing, cre­at­ing a bet­ter stan­dard of liv­ing for cit­i­zens, once man­aged care­ful­ly and with poli­cies of ac­count­abil­i­ty.

“This vis­it by In­dia’s Prime Min­is­ter was not just cer­e­mo­ni­al; it can be the cat­a­lyst for com­mu­ni­ty de­vel­op­ment, ca­pac­i­ty build­ing, and long-term eco­nom­ic and so­cial im­prove­ments across var­i­ous sec­tors—ed­u­ca­tion, health, in­fra­struc­ture, en­er­gy, sports, cul­ture, and oth­ers.”