00:00Mr. Speaker, the phones are ringing off the hook. The Prime Minister phone is ringing off the hook.
00:11The Minister of Energy phone is ringing off the hook. Everybody wants to come to Trinidad and Tobago.
00:20Justice Minister Devish Maraj, as he piloted the Civil Division Bill in the House of Representatives,
00:26after Prime Minister Kamala Posada delivered a statement on her recent official trip to Florida.
00:32The Justice Minister gave credit to the Prime Minister, who spoke about the non-security matters she addressed
00:38while in Florida after she participated in the Shield of the America Summit hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump
00:46last Saturday.
00:47We met with the U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. Always a pleasure to meet him. Very bright man.
00:54Very willing to listen to the problems in the region, our region, and in the hemisphere.
00:59We met him, and we also met with his deputy, Secretary of State, Christopher Landau.
01:04And we discussed further engagement for our region, including, of course, developments involving our neighbor next door, Venezuela.
01:12Following her first meeting with Secretary Rubio in Washington in September of last year,
01:18the U.S. State Department said the Secretary outlined U.S. support for the government's drug and gas proposal
01:24and steps to ensure that it will not provide significant benefit to the Maduro regime.
01:30Trinidad and Tobago subsequently received a new six-month license from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control.
01:36In January of this year, U.S. forces captured Venezuela's President, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife
01:42and flew them to the U.S. in what the U.S. government said was a law enforcement exercise.
01:48In February of this year, the U.S. granted a general license for development of petroleum resources in Venezuela.
01:55Prime Minister Passat-Basessa made no mention of Mr. Maduro or the drug and gas field by name
02:01when she told the lower house about her meetings with U.S. cabinet members last Saturday.
02:07We also met with U.S. Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, to talk about cooperation in the energy sector,
02:14including gas fields, which involve Venezuela, and interests in refinery and tank farm infrastructure.
02:23In that meeting with Secretary of Energy, it produced almost immediate results.
02:31Within hours, energy giant Chevron reached out expressing interest in doing business in Trinidad.
02:39Within hours.
02:41The UNC-led government has declared its intent to reopen the state-owned oil refinery,
02:46which was closed when the former PNM administration restructured the state-owned oil company,
02:53but was unable to sell or lease the refinery before the 2025 general election.
02:58We also had very productive talks with U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick,
03:06and we talked about U.S.-based companies interested in here, in Trinidad and Tobago,
03:11investment, infrastructure, rehab projects in Trinidad and Tobago.
03:17And we also met with the trade representative, Jameson Greer, U.S. trade representative.
03:23And there we talked about tariffs and the potential impact on energy commodities.
03:30On Friday morning, the state-owned National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited
03:34announced the completion and execution of a new gas sales contract
03:38with Point Lisas Nitrogen Limited, which the NGC says guarantees the continued supply of natural gas
03:45to PLNL, which produces ammonia.
03:49Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
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