Caption: Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, left, with T&T Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Public Utilities Minister Barry Padarath
By Alicia Chamely
FROM rural development to education, Trinidad and Tobago is benefiting from several bilateral agreements from the visit of Prime Minister on India Narendra Modi’s visit to T&T.
Modi visited T&T as part of his five-nation tour, arriving on July 3 and leaving on July 4.
A statement from the Office of Prime Minister (OPM) on Friday afternoon, revealed several outcomes from the Memoranda of Understanding and legally signed agreements, which were set to benefit T&T in various sectors.
Additionally, three donations and five agreed-upon bilateral agreements, also came as a result of Modi’s visit.
The first signed bilateral agreement serves to benefit local government through the Indian Grant Assistance for Implementation of Quick Impact Projects (QIPs).
The QIPs grant through the Indian Government would provide up to US$50,000 for a maximum of five projects each financial year.
These projects include the upgrade of physical infrastructure such as roads, community centres and social infrastructure related to education, health and sanitation.
Impacting culture, a programme of cultural exchanges was signed. This included the promotion of steelpan in India.
Regarding sports, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the cooperation of sports. Additionally female cricketers would be given the opportunity to train in India.
The fourth bilateral agreement signed upon was the MOU between the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India and Ministry of Health, Trinidad and Tobago on pharmacopeial cooperation.
This was aimed at making pharmaceutical drugs more affordable and easily available to citizens of T&T.
To strengthen T&T’s position in the handling of international and regional affairs a MOU between Foreign Service Institute of India and the Ministry of Foreign and Diplomatic Staff and other officials of the Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs was entered into to provide specialist training to officials.
The final two legally agreed upon initiatives target tertiary education.
A MOU between the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences, Ministry of AYUSH of India and the University of West Indies was signed for the revival of a Chair of Ayurveda University Students and Faculty of The University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine Campus.
Lastly a MOU was signed for the re-establishment of the Indian Council Cultural Relations (ICCR) Chair of Hindi and Indian Studies at UWI, St Augustine Campus.
These bilateral agreements were meant to not only aid the development of T&T, but are part of India’s Global South policy, which offers support to strengthen developing nations through social and economic cooperation.
