Minister of Finance advocates for increased trade between SVG and Trinidad and Tobago

While Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) celebrate independence, also recognised is inter-dependence and the need for SIDS to forge linkages with one another. Among these linkages are trade and people to people connections say Minister of Finance Camillo Gonsalves, who on Wednesday, October 23, 2024, said that as the political tides in the United States of America (our major trading partner) shifts and focuses on ‘America First’, SIDS are unsure of what that means for us.

“This (regional trade linkages) is to ensure not only our own development and growth and prosperity, but to ensure the unity of what we are trying to create in our Caribbean civilisation,” Gonsalves told a gathering at the Beachcombers Hotel in Villa, where a trade mission organised by the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Chamber of Industry and Commerce (SVGCIC) and the Trinidad & Tobago Manufacturers Association (TTMA) was rounding up a business seminar.

Gonsalves said that as SVG approaches its Independence Anniversary on Sunday, 27, one of the independent things the government is aiming to do is strengthen trading relations T&T.

“We believe that recent history has taught us the importance of having these relations,” Gonsalves said, adding that in recent times it has been proven that trade relations among regional entities have been more resilient than relations further afield.

He said the COVID-19 pandemic taught us about the vulnerability of our supply chains and the challenges of logistics, and forces import-reliant countries like SVG to question why goods are being imported from Miami or China when it is available in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T),where it can be shipped regularly, more affordably, and is more beneficial to the economies of both countries.

“In many instances because of existing treaty arrangements within CARICOM, trading in goods between our countries is often cheaper than it is trading with countries further afield, but we don’t take advantage of some of the opportunities that we have,” Gonsalves said, while adding that from a business and ideological perspective, SVG should be doing more trade with T&T.

He pointed out that T&T has long been this country’s most active trading partner in the Caribbean, and second to the USA in relation to imports.

The finance minister said that in 2023, SVG imported TT$3.1 billion worth of goods, not including services, while T&T was responsible for 8.8 percent of those imports amounting to TT$271 million.

“That places you (T&T) at number two on our list. We imported more goods from Trinidad and Tobago than we did from the United Kingdom, from China, from Japan from any other country in Europe.

“We imported more goods from Trinidad and Tobago than we did from the European Union…you are important to us but at 8.8 percent of total imports, you are second to the United States, but the United States has 41 percent of our imports.” He noted that a lot of the goods imported from the USA are available in quantity and quality in T&T.

“We believe that there is more we can do. We certainly would be more pleased for a variety of reasons to be importing a greater portion of our goods from Trinidad & Tobago than we do… and even better, if we can make inroads into the dominance and our over-reliance on the United States as a market for our imports, particularly as the political tides shift in the United States, and as ‘America first’ becomes a priority. We don’t know for certain what that means for the trading arrangements in the Caribbean,” Gonsalves said at the seminar of business operatives from Trinidad and Tobago and SVG.

He urged the visiting trade mission to look into the possibility of increasing the already booming trade between the two countries which have a long historic connection.

The SVGCIC and TTMA trade mission saw business interactions between 21 businesses from T&T and several businesses in SVG.

Also present at Wednesday’s seminar were Trinidad and Tobago’s Director of Trade Facilitation (acting), Susan Singh-Seerattan; Chief Executive Officer of the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers Association (TTMA), Mahindra Ramesh Ramdeen; and Director of Trade in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), Okollo John-Patrick.