Caption: Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar at the Diplomatic Centre on Friday. Photo: Facebook
PRIME Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says the United States’ Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) licence needed to advance Trinidad and Tobago’s Dragon gas project with Venezuela should be granted soon, describing it as the first step in a two-stage approval process.
Speaking to the media on Friday after inaugurating the Artificial Limb Fitment Camp at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s, Persad-Bissessar said she was assured the OFAC licence had been approved at the US level, noting that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had issued a statement to that effect. No timeline was provided, she added, but “we both understood the urgency of the matter.”
She said the second step involves securing a Venezuelan licence. “I’m told that we had a 30-year licence from Venezuela, but of course, given all that has transpired, we do have some more negotiations with Venezuela. Shell is involved in that project,” she said.
Persad-Bissessar said she plans to meet Adam Lowmass, senior vice-president and country chair of Shell Trinidad and Tobago, for an update.
She noted Shell had already engaged Venezuelan officials, including Executive Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez, regarding the licence. While she has not personally contacted the Venezuelan government, she said other members of her administration have done so. Asked if she would reach out directly, she replied, “Not at this point in time.”
Rejecting suggestions of diplomatic “back and forth” between Port of Spain and Caracas, Persad-Bissessar said Trinidad and Tobago stands “in solidarity with the people of Venezuela.
She added, “We have nothing against the people of Venezuela… What I’m pushing, and really pushing hard, is against the criminals, the narco-traffickers, the human traffickers, the gun runners.”
the prime minster said the Dragon gas project would benefit all parties. “This project will benefit Venezuela. It will benefit the USA, and it will benefit Trinidad and Tobago… all three parties stand to benefit should this go through.”
Commenting on a social media post by US President Donald Trump about a drug-laden vessel intercepted off Venezuela, Persad-Bissessar reiterated her support for US actions against regional narcotics and trafficking networks. She linked recent declines in Trinidad and Tobago’s murder rate partly to such efforts and to the ongoing state of emergency.
She said, “Yes, I remain in support of the US intervention in the region,” she said, adding that the United States “is a sovereign country and they are free to exercise their sovereignty in matters that they deem fit.”
The Artificial Limb Fitment Camp, hosted by the Office of the Prime Minister and the Indian High Commission, was inaugurated earlier in the day. P
Persad-Bissessar said she had returned from the UN General Assembly late Wednesday and spent Thursday in briefings with Cabinet colleagues; there was no post-Cabinet news conference.
