00:00The Senate began its debate of the bill for the 2026 Partial Scope Trade Agreement between Trinidad and Tobago and
00:07Chile as other bills were also on the order paper, such as the one for the Advanced Passenger Information and
00:14Passenger Name Record System, which was unanimously passed by the House of Representatives last week.
00:20Independent Senator Francis Lewis was one of the three out of the nine independent senators who contributed to day one
00:28of the Senate's debate of the Partial Scope Trade Agreement bill.
00:33I would like to start with congratulations to two administrations, the present and the previous, for bringing us to this
00:42point.
00:43Sometimes in the hurly-burly of debate, we forget that we need to be generous in remembering those who brought
00:53us here.
00:54However, Senator Lewis raised a particular concern.
00:57I should note that I voted against debating this bill at this time, and this needs a bit of explanation.
01:06We were advised yesterday for today for a bill of this import.
01:13It did not require urgency, and so in very mild protest, I would say, Mr. President, we really have to
01:23do better than that if we expect considered debate in the House.
01:29The independent senator spoke about what he would like to see once the bill takes effect.
01:34Turning this partial scope trade agreement with Chile into a national economic transformational tool will require a shift of all
01:43of us in mindset from market access to production, exports, and competitiveness as an overall strategy.
01:51It soon became clear that the Senate would not complete its debate on that trade matter on Tuesday.
01:57Right now, the risk, as stated by my colleague earlier, is that imports could rise faster than exports.
02:05And while one could extol the benefits in the fullness of time, in the fullness of time, we're dead.
02:13So, how do we transform what is happening in Trinidad-Tobago so we retool our economy around exports?
02:21And I have some suggestions about how this can realistically be done.
02:24But I'm noting that the leader of government business needs to interrupt.
02:28The leader of government business in the Senate is Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, Darrell Allaha.
02:33Sir, let me give way to you.
02:36Thank you kindly, Senator Lewis.
02:38Mr. President, at this point, I beg to move that the Senate do now adjourn to Tuesday, April 21st, 2026,
02:46at 1.30 p.m.,
02:48when we will complete the debate on the bill at hand.
02:51And we will also treat with the Advanced Passenger Information and Passenger Name Record Bill 2026,
02:58as well as the Retrenchment and Severance Benefits Amendment Bill 2026.
03:05The Senate ended its proceedings early at 4.03 p.m., which was before its afternoon tea break.
03:12Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
03:14New Speaker 1, 1730 B.L.
Comments