As the Trade and Investment Convention 2025 continued today in Macoya, government officials and business leaders sought to reassure the public that the newly declared State did not impact on proceedings
00:00The newly declared state of emergency is not expected to affect daily life or business
00:05operations. That's according to both government and private sector representatives who spoke
00:12at the Trade and Investment Convention 2025 in McCoy. The second day of TIC 2025 carried
00:19on as planned just hours after the declaration of a state of emergency.
00:24Minister of Planning, Economic Affairs and Development Dr. Kennedy Swarid Singh addressed
00:31the issue during his appearance at the event.
00:33Well, the issue is a targeted issue based on what the police would have put out this morning.
00:38So that is a specific activity that the police are very capable of dealing with.
00:42Will this affect in terms of, you know, the administrative planning?
00:45It wouldn't affect anybody in Toronto and Tobago.
00:47TTMA President Dale Parson was also present and gave his take on the potential impact.
00:53So I don't think that this SOE is going to impact the general population. I mean, you can look
00:58around the places, it's crowded. I think this is a targeted SOE. And this is specific to a particular
01:04group of citizens of China that are causing this disruption.
01:12He added that he does not believe there will be drastic incidents, nor will it affect investments.
01:19They are taking the time to make sure that nothing drastic doesn't happen. So this is a good thing.
01:27And I don't think it's going to deter any investors. In fact, I think it's going to have the reverse effect.
01:32People on the outside are going to see this and even the general population are going to see this as a proactive step
01:37to try and deal with the problem before it comes.
01:40Parson also weighed in on the potential motives behind the move.
01:44I think this is targeted more at, and this is yet to be confirmed, but it's a group of criminals from
01:52within prison and outside prison that are fostering these kidnappings that we see happening now.
01:57He also speculated that the recent criminal activity could be linked to the termination of over 300 CPAP workers' contracts.
02:13The SOE was officially declared shortly after midnight following a recommendation by Commissioner of Police Alistair Guevaro.
02:21In a statement, the Commissioner said the move followed intelligence, indicating the rise of a coordinated and dangerous criminal network operating from within the prison system.
02:33TIC 2025 continues through Saturday. For now, officials maintain that the state of emergency remains a focused security measure, with no broad impact on citizens or commerce.
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