Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has ex­pressed deep grat­i­tude on be­half of the Gov­ern­ment of Trinidad and To­ba­go to Chief Jus­tice Ivor Archie, who an­nounced ear­li­er to­day that he is step­ping down to­mor­row af­ter near­ly 18 years in of­fice.

“We ex­tend sin­cere ap­pre­ci­a­tion and best wish­es to Mr Archie as he em­barks up­on his re­tire­ment,” the Prime Min­is­ter said in her state­ment.

“His years of ser­vice have left an in­deli­ble mark on our ju­di­cial land­scape, and we thank him for his con­tri­bu­tions to na­tion­al de­vel­op­ment and pub­lic ser­vice,” she added.

Archie was the coun­try’s longest-serv­ing Chief Jus­tice.

In a me­dia state­ment is­sued on Tues­day af­ter­noon, he con­firmed that he had writ­ten to Act­ing Pres­i­dent Wade Mark, ad­vis­ing that he would re­tire on Oc­to­ber 22, 2025.

The an­nounce­ment fol­lows his dis­clo­sure dur­ing last month’s open­ing of the 2025/2026 Law Term that his de­par­ture was im­mi­nent.

Archie said, “Trinidad and To­ba­go has been good to me, and I hope that I have been equal­ly good to my coun­try. It has been an ho­n­our to serve.”

He added, “I wish my suc­ces­sor every suc­cess in the pe­ri­od ahead. May God guide his or her path as this new en­deav­our is com­menced.”

Un­der Sec­tion 102 of the Con­sti­tu­tion, the Chief Jus­tice is se­lect­ed by the Pres­i­dent af­ter con­sul­ta­tions with the Prime Min­is­ter and Leader of the Op­po­si­tion.