Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar who Wednesday said she expects to meet with Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez later this month has expressed her ‘love ‘ for the South American leader.
In October last year, the Venezuelan National Assembly declared Persad-Bissessar, persona non grata, banning her from entering the country. Caracas had accused her of supporting United States military aggression against the Bolivarian Republic that led to the removal of President Nicolas Maduro form office. He along with his wife are now in a United States jail on several charges including illegal drug smuggling,
Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar, a Senior Counsel who attended the ceremonial opening of the new law term here on Wednesday, told reporters that the meeting with Rodriquez could most likely take place in New York during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) slated for September 22-26.
Last week, Foreign Affairs Minister Sean Sobers led a delegation to Caracas and Persad-Bissessar was asked by reporters if she was hopeful that may bridge the relationship between the two countries at this present time given that she is still persona non grata and that could hamper a meeting with Rodriguez.
‘I will meet with anyone who wishes to meet me,’ she said, adding that Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago have enjoyed a close relationship and that members of her own family are Venezuelan nationals.
‘Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela, we have very very close ties so whatever has to be done we will do in the best interest of Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela,’ she said, noting that her message to the acring Venezuelan leader now is ‘I love her, I look forward to meeting her and in fact I think we’re hoping to meet …when we go up to the UN.
‘Yes, I think there is a plan that we will both meet at the end of September,’ she said, informing reporters that ‘there is a plan. If it doesn’t happen, I’ll let you know, but that is a plan.
‘Minister Sobers is working on it. If it works out, it happens. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll let you know,’ she said, adding that she also remains optimistic that natural gas from Venezuela could soon be coming across to Trinidad and Tobago.
‘I have absolutely no doubt that gas from Venezuela will come to Trinidad and Tobago.It is the only channel, the only place it can pass. We are seven miles away and it will come. We have already signed agreements with BP.
‘We hope to conclude agreements with Shell and …many other companies. I have absolutely no doubt that in the next year we will see natural gas coming to Trinidad and Tobago, and part of it has to do with rapprochement with Venezuela.
‘We are neighbours, well we’re in fact family, as I just shared with you,’ she added.
Last week, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela said they had agreed on a roadmap to deepen cooperation in trade, energy, agriculture, environmental protection, culture and collective security.
The agreement follows a meeting between Sobers, and his Venezuelan counterpart and in the joint statement the two governments said the visit marks ‘a new chapter’ in diplomatic relations between the neighbouring countries.
The working agenda is intended to facilitate what the governments described as ‘a new era’ in relations, and that the agenda will serve as a roadmap for increased cooperation in several priority areas.