Sen. Vasant Bharath Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment and Minister in the Ministry of Finance and the Economy in Trinidad and Tobago led a contingent of Trinidad and Tobago business persons to InvesTT Limited’s third and final Business Forum held in Guangzhou, China on Friday.
Trinidad and Tobago is the Southern-most Caribbean State which is seen as the gateways to the Americas,” he told potential investors.
“It is ideally positioned below the hurricane belt; it has a low cost of energy which is 3.5 cents per kilowatt-hour; it has a politically and economically stable environment; and a highly literate and educated workforce,” he further said.
As the Trade and Investment Minister for Trinidad and Tobago, Bharath said that he considers his role as the “chief sales person” for his country and as such, his “main objective is to sell Trinidad and Tobago as an investment destination” to the 80-plus participants at the Guangzhou Forum.
He said that the Ministry’s continued drive to attract investors, it has started a process of modernization of institutions under its Ministry to ensure when an investors come to Trinidad and Tobago they are greeted with arms open wide by invesTT, the investment facilitation agency and one stop shop, which provides the information and guidance that investors require.
In addition to institutional strengthening, the Ministry has been working with the World Bank to improve the Ease of Doing Business indicators to make it easier to do business in Trinidad and Tobago.
He announced that by May 2014 the time taken to clear a container will be reduced from 19 to 3 days and the acquisition of a construction permit will be reduced from 300 days to 3 weeks.