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| BpTT sends engineers to US to assist with oil spill efforts |
| By Trinidad Guardian July 17, 2010 01:01:00 AM |
| | BpTT has sent engineers and managers from T&T to the Gulf of Mexico to assist in the oil spill clean-up and containment efforts, said Beatrice Wilkinson-Welters, United States ambassador to T&T. “Once again, our countries are linked in ways that many do not realise,” Wilkinson-Welters said. She was speaking at Thursday’s annual ambassador’s reception, hosted by the American Chamber, at the diplomat’s official residence, Flagstaff Hill, Long Circular Road.
Wilkinson-Welters said over the last few months, the consular section of the US Embassy has “worked hard” to share information about new procedures for visa applications, including a new Web-based application that has been implemented worldwide.
“The new application reduces the paperwork required for interviews and improves the way information is gathered and processed.
“Consular officers have also met with the human resources directors and others at several large businesses in the country to better understand various business sectors here, and how we can make our services even more efficient,” she said.
Open skies agreement
Wilkinson-Welters, who assumed duties in April, said this was the first time she’d experienced a general election outside of the United States. She said in the two months since the general election, T&T and the United States have taken some important steps. Those include signing in May an open skies agreement, which will expand links between the US and T&T. “The open skies agreement will make it easier for business to get done and for tourists to travel, and it further solidifies both the trade and human relationships between our countries.”
She said representatives from T&T and regional leaders visited Washington to launch the Caribbean Basic Security Initiative, which represents a new regional approach by the US government to promote security, specifically across the Caribbean.
Last month, Health Minister Therese Baptiste-Cornelis signed with the US an agreement related to US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief. “The US reached an agreement with T&T, as it did with a number of other Caribbean states, on a partnership framework to counter the disease and to help those affected by it. “Initially, we are expecting well over US$2 million for T&T as part of this effort, with more to come in later years,” Wilkinson-Welters said.
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