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  • 8 months ago
One day after CARICOM officials met with a special US envoy to discuss matters affecting the region, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley reaffirmed this country's sovereignty in no uncertain terms.

Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Dr. Amery Browne tells TV6, the meeting went "extremely well". Rynessa Cutting reports.
Transcript
00:00With less than one week to go before he demits office, Prime Minister Dr. Keith
00:05Rowley is taking a stand in support of Trinidad and Tobago's sovereignty.
00:12Out of the blue now we are being called human traffickers because we hire technical
00:19people who we pay top dollar equal to local rates but we are now being
00:26accused of taking part in the program where people are being exploited.
00:32That's somebody's interpretation and of course there are local people here
00:39encouraging them to take away our US visas. Today I just came back
00:45from California and if I never been in my life I will ensure that the
00:53sovereignty of Trinidad and Tobago is known to its people and respected by all.
00:59Dr. Rowley's comments come on the heels of the Trump administration's
01:07announcement of visa sanctions against the government who patronized Cuba's
01:12medical labor export program. On Sunday CARICOM's Council for Foreign and
01:17Community Relations met with the US State Department Special Envoy to
01:22discuss this and other issues. Contacted for comment today Minister of
01:27Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Dr. Amy Brown told TV6 News the meeting went
01:33extremely well. Dr. Brown described the discussions as
01:38wide-ranging with specific focus on the current US policies on Cuba as well as
01:43the issues of migration, regional security, energy security and Haiti.
01:49He says more substantive exchanges are anticipated in the near future with the
01:54Special Envoy, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other key members of the
01:59current US administration. Meantime Dr. Rowley is also condemning members of the
02:04opposition for their negative comments on this country's drug and gas deal with
02:08Venezuela. Noting that should the deal fall through it would be a major loss
02:13for TNT. Sanctions by one country against another country could have the
02:20effect of destroying our economy. We're not involved in it but it could destroy
02:28everything that we represent and that we hope for and it takes a lot of good
02:34leadership to navigate between these grinding gears to come away in an era of
02:41sanctions by the United States against Venezuela with an OFAC license from the
02:46Office of Foreign Asset Control where Trinidad and Tobago has in fact the
02:51license to operate without the sanctions and we simply have to have a commitment
02:58and to earn the respect of those we do business with to ensure that we move
03:04from talk to working the outcome because the future of our country depends on it.
03:12The outgoing Prime Minister was speaking at the opening of the new central block
03:16of the Port of Spain General Hospital. Renessa Cutting, TV6 News.
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