BARBADOS and Trinidad and Tobago are to share foreign diplomatic representation.
This was announced yesterday by Barbados’ Prime Minister, Mia Amor Mottley, and Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Rowley.
They hosted a joint news conference at Ilaro court, at which details about that arrangement were made known.
The two countries will be sharing missions in Nigeria, Ghana, and in Kenya. Trinidad currently has diplomatic representation in South Africa and to the extent that Barbados is desirous of going that route the two countries will be sharing representation there.
Other countries earmarked for such cooperation are South Korea, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait.
Ms. Mottley said that this is nothing new, since back in the 1960s following the attainment of its independence, Barbados and Guyana shared diplomatic representation in London.
She said that in taking those positions, they are aiming for efficiencies in government operations. “To that extent we recognized that if we can work together in as many areas as possible for the benefit of taxpayers in Trinidad and Tobago and in Barbados, then we would have added value to them,” Ms. Mottley said.
Dr. Rowley said that they have been looking to see where the two countries are able to cooperate in every possible area.
“It makes sense where we work together and our discussions have taken us to the point where Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados have agreed to share missions abroad,” Dr. Rowley said.
He said that Trinidad and Tobago has interest in Ghana, in energy, commerce, culture and diplomacy. “So where we have missions in that part of the world, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados will enter a Memorandum of Understanding where we share a mission, which means each country will have a larger number of footprints,” he explained.
He revealed that the High Commissioner in Nigeria will be a Trinidadian and the senior officer will be a Barbadian. The High Commissioner will serve for a period of two years and both countries will share the staff and the cost of the mission.
When Barbados operationalises in Ghana there will be a Barbadian in place with a Trinidadian being second in command.
Both leaders also expressed the significance of having a strong presence in Africa in light of the fact African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group which will be negotiating a new agreement with the European Union as a successor to Cotonou agreement, and the need to forge links with that continent.