Trinidad scouting for Indian investment

Lucknow, May 29 (UNI) Projecting itself as a regional hub for business and commerce, Trinidad&Tobago (T&T) is scouting for investment from India.

The island nation is promising a sea of opportunities to Indian businessmen across industry verticals viz banking, hospitality, BPO, oil, gas, steel, food processing, entertainment and downstream energy projects.

Of late, the country has been aggressively positioning itself as a perfect gateway to North American, Latin American, African and the West European markets, with which it has bilateral trade ties and agreements.

Addressing a business conference here last night, T&T High Commissioner Pundit Maniedeo Persad said a lot of investment was already flowing to his country from China, the USA and the UK.

However, the Central American nation is keen for investment from India, especially Uttar Pradesh, due to its cultural ties and colonial past.

People of Indian origin, especially from UP, comprise almost 40 per cent of the T&T population.

''We are keen for investment from India, since there is a cultural affinity between the two countries,'' he said.

''Trinidad and Tobago is on target to integrating its economy with that of Latin America, as a platform for positioning the country as the regional hub for business, commerce and investment,'' he later told UNI on the sidelines.

The country is offering tax holidays and several other incentives for inward investment across sectors.

''We have a favourable balance of trade with our major trading partners and products and services dominate the flow of trade to CARICOM (Caribbean Common Market),'' he highlighted.

CARICOM already has bilateral agreements between Colombia, Cuba, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, European Union, USA and Canada, the T&T High Commissioner informed.

He maintained that Indian businessmen could use T&T as a platform to conduct trade in goods and services with the US, Latin America, Canada and the EU.

The diversified Essar Group of India has already committed to a multi-billion US dollar steel project in T&T.

The conference was jointly organised by the Indian Industries Association (IIA) and the High Commission of Republic of Trinidad&Tobago, New Delhi.

IIA President Tarun Kheterpal exuded hope that there would be greater business ties between India and T&T in the days to come.

UNI