The Amer­i­can Cham­ber of Com­merce of Trinidad and To­ba­go (Am­cham T&T) has wel­comed the high-lev­el meet­ing be­tween Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar and Venezue­lan Pres­i­dent Del­cy Ro­dríguez, say­ing the dis­cus­sions could open the way for greater eco­nom­ic co­op­er­a­tion be­tween the neigh­bour­ing coun­tries.

The meet­ing took place on Wednes­day in New York on the mar­gins of the 81st Ses­sion of the Unit­ed Na­tions Gen­er­al As­sem­bly.

In a state­ment is­sued yes­ter­day, Am­cham T&T said it was en­cour­aged by what it de­scribed as both lead­ers’ com­mit­ment to strength­en­ing bi­lat­er­al re­la­tions through di­a­logue, co­op­er­a­tion and good neigh­bourli­ness.

The busi­ness or­gan­i­sa­tion said it par­tic­u­lar­ly wel­comed the breadth of ar­eas iden­ti­fied for co­op­er­a­tion be­tween T&T and Venezuela.

These in­clude trade, en­er­gy, se­cu­ri­ty, dis­as­ter risk man­age­ment, en­vi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion, agri­cul­ture, tourism, air con­nec­tiv­i­ty and cul­ture.

Am­cham T&T said these ar­eas could pro­vide op­por­tu­ni­ties to deep­en eco­nom­ic ties, strength­en re­silience and cre­ate greater scope for busi­ness and in­vest­ment be­tween the two coun­tries.

“We wel­come the meet­ing be­tween the two lead­ers and the clear com­mit­ment to a con­struc­tive path for­ward,” said Am­cham T&T chief ex­ec­u­tive of­fi­cer Ni­rad Tewarie.

Tewarie said T&T and Venezuela, as neigh­bour­ing coun­tries with strong and long-stand­ing his­tor­i­cal ties, could ben­e­fit from sus­tained di­a­logue.

He said con­tin­ued en­gage­ment could help trans­late the lat­est de­vel­op­ments in­to tan­gi­ble op­por­tu­ni­ties in trade, in­vest­ment and en­er­gy, while sup­port­ing greater co­op­er­a­tion in se­cu­ri­ty, en­vi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion and re­gion­al re­silience.

Am­cham T&T al­so point­ed to the im­por­tance of the com­mit­ment to main­tain high-lev­el con­sul­ta­tion be­tween the two coun­tries.

The or­gan­i­sa­tion said di­rect en­gage­ment would be im­por­tant to en­sur­ing that the bi­lat­er­al re­la­tion­ship con­tin­ues to de­vel­op.

The meet­ing comes as the Per­sad-Bisses­sar ad­min­is­tra­tion seeks to ad­vance re­la­tions with Venezuela across sev­er­al ar­eas, in­clud­ing en­er­gy and trade, while main­tain­ing en­gage­ment on is­sues af­fect­ing both coun­tries.

Am­cham T&T said con­sis­tent and mean­ing­ful di­a­logue, sup­port­ed by prac­ti­cal co­op­er­a­tion, could strength­en bi­lat­er­al re­la­tions while con­tribut­ing to eco­nom­ic op­por­tu­ni­ty, se­cu­ri­ty, sta­bil­i­ty and pros­per­i­ty for Trinidad and To­ba­go, Venezuela and the wider Caribbean.

The cham­ber said it was par­tic­u­lar­ly in­ter­est­ed in see­ing the com­mit­ments from the meet­ing trans­lat­ed in­to con­crete ar­eas of co­op­er­a­tion and in­creased op­por­tu­ni­ties for busi­ness­es in both coun­tries.

It said such de­vel­op­ments could ul­ti­mate­ly pro­duce mu­tu­al­ly ben­e­fi­cial out­comes for cit­i­zens of Trinidad and To­ba­go and Venezuela, as well as the wider hemi­sphere.

Am­cham T&T said it would con­tin­ue to sup­port ef­forts aimed at strength­en­ing eco­nom­ic and com­mer­cial ties be­tween the two neigh­bour­ing states.

The or­gan­i­sa­tion’s en­dorse­ment adds a busi­ness-sec­tor voice to the re­newed em­pha­sis on di­rect en­gage­ment be­tween Port-of-Spain and Cara­cas, with trade, en­er­gy, in­vest­ment and re­gion­al re­silience among the ar­eas iden­ti­fied for clos­er co­op­er­a­tion.