Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Sean Sobers believes the government will find amiable solutions to the new requirements for Trinidad and Tobago nationals to obtain visas to visit the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Minister Sobers has received a report from the Permanent Secretary on the requirement for visas for T&T nationals when travelling to Ireland, whether or not the travel is in transit. The requirement from the Irish Immigration Service came into effect on May 12 and follows a similar announcement by the UK government on March 12th, for travel visas for T&T nationals.
“I have not yet dealt with that in its entirety. We are still having some discussions internally at the Ministry with respect to that and with respect to the UK situation, those talks are still ongoing and we will definitely be updating the public once we’ve finalised certain things with respect to those conversations. The Cabinet is very much involved with that as well too, it’s a work in progress and we hope at the end of the day that we are successful.”
Meanwhile, Minister Sobers says the Ministry continues to build on the foundation set while working alongside other government entities such as the Ministries of Trade, Investment and Tourism, Finance, and Culture and Community Development, with the long-term push towards tangible gains for economic progress and development.
“In terms of dealing with CSME and CARICOM, we want to ensure that the Ministry also, apart from some of the intangible successes that the Ministry brings by and large, we want to ensure that the Ministry also starts to – it already has a foundation for it, but we want to build on that foundation to bring in some tangible gains as well too.”
Minister Sobers was a guest at the launch of Asian Nights 2, hosted by the National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS) on Wednesday evening.