T&T PM and other CARICOM leaders to meet with US officials in Barbados

SOURCE – CMC – Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley travels to Barbados on Tuesday to participate in a series of talks with high-level United States officials, according to a statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister on Monday night.

It said that Prime Minister Rowley will meet with US Senator Chris Dodd who has been named the Special Advisor for the Summit of the Americas by US President Joe Biden. The summit will be held in Los Angeles June 6-10.

Dodd is also expected to meet with other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders during his visit to Barbados, the statement said, adding that Prime Minister Rowley will attend a roundtable discussion on Wednesday dealing with De-Risking and Correspondent Banking.

The event will be co-hosted by US Congresswoman Maxine Waters, the Chairwoman of the US House Committee on Financial Services and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley.

Waters will be accompanied at the meeting by members of the Financial Services Committee and other members of the US House of Representatives.

The statement said that other regional leaders as well as the CARICOM Secretary General Dr Carla Barnett; the Director General of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Dr Didacus Jules; and President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Dr Gene Leon will also attend the event.

“The Roundtable Discussion on De-Risking and Correspondent Banking follows a number of engagements between CARICOM and Congresswoman Maxine Waters on the matter since 2019,” according to the statement. It noted that Prime Minister Rowley met with Congresswoman Waters during a visit to Washington in 2019 and again in March last year, during Trinidad and Tobago’s Chairmanship of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

Prime Minister Rowley will be accompanied to Barbados by his CARICOM and Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr Amery Browne.