PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago has formally recognized the State of Palestine, saying that it hopes the recognition will assist in the achievement of a lasting peace by strengthening the growing international consensus on the issue of Palestinian statehood.
A statement issued by the Ministry of CARICOM and Foreign Affairs said that Cabinet took the decision to recognize Palestine at its weekly meeting on Thursday and that the oil-rich twin island republic “has a long history of moral support for the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.
“The government’s consistent position is that a two-state solution is the only way out of the ongoing cycle of violence. This is our consistent foreign policy position, which is founded on Trinidad and Tobago’s respect for and adherence to international law and the principles of the Charter of the United Nations,” the statement said.
It noted that this support has been consistently demonstrated through Trinidad and Tobago’s endorsement of key resolutions on Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
“Such resolutions include Resolution 67/19, which accorded Palestine Non-Member Observer State status in the UNGA, and the annual resolutions of the UNGA on the Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources and the Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine.”
Port of Spain said that since the outbreak of the most recent round of violent conflict in Gaza in October 2023, sparked by the terrorist group Hamas’s incursion into Israel and taking several hundred people hostage, resulting in retaliatory action by Israel, Trinidad, and Tobago also supported resolutions adopted at the Emergency Special Sessions of the UNGA on the protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations.
The statement also noted that on the issue of Palestinian statehood, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley is on record as outlining the country’s position, adding that seven months into the war in Gaza, Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Minister Dr. Amery Browne also articulated Port of Spain’s position.
The statement said that the “cabinet decision is consistent with these public statements by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs.
“Trinidad and Tobago has been a longstanding advocate of the two-state solution, as we believe that this is the only credible path to peace and security for Palestinians, the Israelis, and, by extension, the wider region.
“Recognition of Palestine is moral and just and demonstrates Trinidad and Tobago’s acknowledgment of and support for the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian People. Trinidad and Tobago will join 141 other countries that recognize Palestine, Algeria being the first to have done so in 1988,” the statement added.
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