Burnishing the historic ties that bind Africa and the Caribbean has been one of the focal points of the region in recent years and a recent disclosure by Trinidad and Tobago’s Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopie-Scoon has underlined the twin-island Republic’s determination that its own contribution to strengthening regional links with the continent not be lost amidst the maze of activity ensuing elsewhere in the region. Trinidad and Tobago wants to ensure that there is a shared recognition of the broad contribution that CARICOM member countries are now making to embrace relations with Africa more tightly.
A great deal of some of the earliest initiatives to rekindle Africa-Caribbean relations have materialized in various business ties and late last month Gopie-Scoon disclosed to The Guardian newspaper that the twin-island Republic had been making its own diligent efforts to play a leading role in the strengthening of economic ties between the Caribbean and Africa in recent times. Reportedly ‘trotting out’ numbers to make the point, Gopie-Scoon told The Guardian newspaper last year that total exports from Trinidad and Tobago to Africa were valued at TT$2.3 billion (US$336 million) with imports valued at TT$261 million (US$38 million).
While energy products dominate Trinidad and Tobago’s exports to Africa, Gopie-Scoon also reportedly listed “food and beverages, aromatic bitters, cooking oil, paints and chemicals,” as being among the inventory of goods from the CARICOM country currently being exported to both anglophone and francophone countries, including Eswatini, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Senegal. The Trinidad and Tobago Trade Minister was also reported as saying that the CARICOM member state’s imports from Africa has “sourced products such as auto parts, spices, clothing, processed foods, appliances,” from various countries on the continent, including “South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Nigeria, and Tunisia.”
Mutual interest in business ties between Africa and the Caribbean has also been reflected in the August 2023 opening of a branch of the AFREXIMBANK in Barbados and the approval of a US$1.5 billion line of credit to enable member states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to expand exports to Africa. Movement of official delegations and business groups have also been reflected in travel between Africa and the Caribbean, including what was regarded as a historic Caribbean Export-led visit to selected African countries with a primary focus on Ghana and visits to Guyana by high-level delegations from Africa to attend Guyana’s now globally recognized international oil and gas and investment fora.
