Trinidad and Tobago and the United States seek to strengthen trade partnerships as the Trade Ministry embarks on devising its national trade strategy for the next five years.
00:00Scott Hanson, political and economic counselor at the U.S. Embassy, stresses the importance of strengthening the T.T.U.S. economic partnership.
00:09It is designed to unlock new opportunities and spur economic growth in key sectors such as maritime and domain awareness, cyber security, renewable energy, and water and sanitation.
00:22Hanson says the partnership between the U.S. and T.N.T. comes at a crucial time.
00:28Financial institutions may have less of a tenor appetite than what Ex-Im Bank does.
00:36And a lot of the value that comes from Ex-Im Bank in our medium and long-term loan guarantees is the fact that we have much greater tenor appetites internationally than banks typically would.
00:49The Ex-Im Bank of T.N.T. provides foreign exchange support and credit capital.
00:55We have raw material financing and trade discounting, which is our working capital facilities, short-term lending.
01:02And we have, you know, Forex manufacturing and FAS, which is our Forex programs.
01:09And then what we call the Ex-Loan, which is a loan for capital expenditure for plant and machinery and so on.
01:17And that is what you get a T.T. dollar loan, but U.S. dollar proceeds to send it, as I say, cash up front to the U.S. companies that you're buying the goods from.
01:30Most of the trade between T.N.T. and the U.S. happens through the Caribbean Basin Initiative.
01:35And the trade ministry is eager for the expansion and diversification away from energy.
01:41As it stands, under the CBI, the export of 11 energy sector products account for more than 50 percent of T.N.T.'s total trade to the U.S.C.
01:52This pattern has been the case for many years and one that the government is keen on changing.
01:59He says the ministry is keen on modernizing the trade and business environment through many initiatives like the National Trade Strategy, which will be applicable for the next five years.
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