PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Caribbean Community leaders will meet with Saudi Arabian leaders next month for the first summit, Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley announced on Thursday.
Rowley, speaking at a news conference here, said that the summit will be held on November 16
“As you may know, Saudi Arabia is one of the countries in the world that has a considerable investment fund with which they make significant investments around the world, and in CARICOM, one of the things we are always short of is an inflow of foreign direct investment.
“So Saudi Arabia’s interest in the CARICOM in recent times has been increasing, and we have been encouraging it. They have already made significant investments across CARICOM. Trinidad and Tobago, we have been in touch, and we have been part of the discussions, and they have arranged with CARICOM a summit that is to take place …in Riyadh on the 16th November,” Rowley told reporters.
He said the proposed summit, coming soon after the very successful Canada-CARICOM summit, will not affect the bilateral talks Port of Spain intends to continue with Riyad.
Rowley said he also intends to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 28 in Dubai from November 30 to December 12 and that the bilateral talks with Saudi Arabia would occur.
“I am going to do both. I will attend the summit. I don’t want to be the reason why it would have to be re-scheduled or possibly postponed because my other CARICOM colleagues are eager to have it, so we are going to have it on the 16th (November),” Rowley said.
“Trinidad and Tobago will be present, and I will be leading a delegation to this summit in Saudi Arabia, but because of how it has come quickly, our bilateral relationships and discussions, which were quite advanced with Saudi Arabia, would continue after the summit,” said Rowley, adding that he would remain in Saudi Arabia for the bilaterals.
“We would be meeting with some significant potential interest,” Rowley said, adding that he would be joined at the bi-laterals by the Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr. Amery Browne, as well as the Minister of Energy and Energy Related Industries, Stuart Young, and another government official.
He said discussions will likely be on the transportation issue, noting that the relevant ministry here is “entirely advanced with some arrangements concerning international air travel.
“As you know, some of the biggest business in air travel today…airlines coming out of the Gulf and Saudi Arabia (and) so we are hoping to find some common ground in there with some CARICOM western interest,” Rowley said.
He said he intends to attend the COP 28 meeting, where discussions will be on climate change issues as well as on the financial commitments made by the international community to help Small Islands Developing States (SIDS), including those in the Caribbean, deal with the impact of climate change.
“Trinidad and Tobago has a vested interest in those negotiations, and I will lead our delegation there,” he said, adding he would be there for the high-level discussions likely to occur over three days.
Rowley said he then travels to London, accompanied by Young, for meetings with energy stakeholders regarding the Atlantic LNG project in Trinidad and Tobago.
“The restructuring of Atlantic LNG is one of the most significant things this government would have done. It was not easy, but we convinced the principals that Trinidad and Tobago’s interest has to come first…certainly not last.
“We have spent the last two and a half years on this exercise, and we have now concluded it, and the signing of that is to take place with Shell BP in London, and we have new business to discuss with two other companies.”
He said the meetings in London will be held December 4-6.
Rowley defended his decision to renegotiate the terms of conditions regarding the Atlantic LNG project, which he described as “far-reaching” and that without the restructuring, Trinidad and Tobago’s “earning capacity would have been significantly hampered…going forward”.
He said before the new agreement, Trinidad and Tobago’s shareholding in Train One was 10 percent, 11 percent in train four, and nothing in trains two and three.
“Train one being the oldest when the gas availability became a problem…the other owners of train one decided that train one had to be withdrawn, there was not enough gas to run four trains.
They had all the shareholdings in trains two and three. You know what that meant for us,” he said, adding, “What we did was to make sure we kept train one on the table so that we would have a seat at the table so that we could negotiate and instead negotiate for a funeral, we arrange for a birth…
“As a result of what we did with train one, we were able to change the shareholding in the restructured LNG business in Trinidad and Tobago, where the government of Trinidad and Tobago now will have a shareholding of 10 percent in the entire business.”
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