‘We have to stop work in a selfish way in the region at every level’ – Pres. Ali

President Dr. Irfaan Ali on Friday addressed the opening of the Trinidad and Tobago’s Agri-Investment Expo where he called on regional Heads of State and the private sector to step up and address issues which affect trade in the region.

“We have to stop work in a selfish way in the region at every level,” he told those gathered at the forum at  at the Queen’s Park Savannah.

Addressing the private sector, he noted that there is a capable private sector within the CARICOM region which needs to form a consortium and address the issue of transportation and logistics in the region. Many local companies have complained about the existence of intra-regional barriers to trade but the President has challenged those persons to aid in solving those issues.

“The private sector need to come together, understand the scale of opportunity, scale their thinking up and go after that opportunity and put the pressure back on the heads in the region to say we are ready, come onboard and let us together form a partnership to solve this problem,” he said.

The President warned that if this is not done, Governments will have “no other choice but to go extra-regionally,” thereby giving major business opportunities to interested companies further afield.

Dr. Ali pointed out that the Regional Heads of State are willing to sit with such a consortium to establish a list of measures and incentives that will fix the transportation and logistics problem.

In addition, he called for the harmonization of regulations in the region.

“We can have legislation but the regulations are made subject to the authority of a minister so the regulations allow the interpretation of a legislation sometimes. So we focus a lot on legislation but we miss the regulations which is the implementation level,” the President said.

Many organisations and representative bodies have also raised concerns about the bureaucracy that exists in the region. The President who previously served as a Minister responsible for Industry and Commerce, said “we have to fix the institutions in a way that which every single institution in the region operate on the same procedures, guidelines and standards so our people will have a common access and a common understanding as to what the procedures, standards and guidelines are. And it must not vary from country to country.”

Addressing the need for investment in technology, farm to market access roads and opening up of new land, the President said a collective effort is needed.

The President is attending the Expo along with Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Oneidge Walrond, Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hugh Todd and representatives of Government and private sector organisations.