RELATIONS WITH THE EU
The European Union and Trinidad and Tobago
The EU’s partnership with Trinidad and Tobago spans 45+ years. It is a mutually beneficial relationship that has evolved and become more important over time – a partnership of equals that is based not just on development cooperation and trade, but one that is also political and based on common objectives and shared values.
Political Relations
The Samoa Agreement underpins the EU's political relations with ACP countries, including Trinidad and Tobago.
This new partnership agreement serves as the new legal framework for EU relations with 79 countries. This includes 48 African, 16 Caribbean and 15 Pacific countries.
Around 2 billion people are covered by the agreement.
The agreement aims to strengthen the capacity of the EU and the ACP countries to address global challenges together.
The Samoa Agreement replaces the previous partnership agreement, Cotonou.
Trade
Trade relations between the EU and Trinidad and Tobago are based on the 2008 CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). The EPA covers all areas of activity, from manufactured goods to services to intellectual property and investment, and offers Trinidad and Tobago free access for its goods and services to the EU market, while Trinidad and Tobago will gradually introduce tariff reductions for an agreed set of goods over a period of 25 years for imports from the EU. In addition, Trinidad and Tobago has bilateral investment treaties with some individual EU countries, including Spain, France and Germany.
Developing Trinidad and Tobago’s Trade Relations
While Trinidad and Tobago already exports to Europe, the EU being Trinidad and Tobago's second largest trading partner, measures are being taken to increase trade in general. The EU provides support to CARIFORUM to ensure that Trinidad and Tobago, as well as and other countries in the region, can take greater advantage of the trading opportunities available under the EPA. For example, training and workshops have been provided in areas such as food safety requirements and technical barriers to trade. Trade missions to Europe are also organised regularly.
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Handover of PPE to the Chief Medical Officer of Trinidad and Tobago.
Copyright: EU Delegation to Trinidad and Tobago
Covid-19 Response
The immediate response of the EU was the provision of PPE, along with assistance for the health sector monitoring and surveillance, and support to vulnerable groups. The latter was channelled through an EIDHR grant contract signed with Trinidad and Tobago’s Red Cross Society, to support migrants and refugees unable to access pandemic support offered by the TT Government. Support also included a reorientation of the ‘Spotlight Initiative’ to include preventing and mitigating violence against women and girls, which has been exacerbated due to the pandemic.
Longer-term support aims to contribute to TT’s socio-economic recovery:
- A EUR 8 million programme geared towards supporting a competitive and innovative economy. The programme will become an important stimulus for the private sector in the context of the Covid-19 crisis recovery, creating and enabling the business environment to drive competitiveness and a more diversified economy in a socially and environmentally sustainable way.
- Support vulnerable Venezuelan migrant families to recover from the (mainly economic) impact of Covid-19, as part of DG ECHO’s response to the Venezuelan crisis inside and outside Venezuela.
Global Gateway
Global Gateway is the European Union’s (EU) investment offer to its partners around the world. It aligns our partners’ interests with EU interests from a geopolitical perspective. It is the EU’s contribution to narrowing the global investment gap accompanying the social and just, green and digital transitions beyond European borders and boosting competitiveness and security of global supply chains.
Global Gateway is a way to connect Europe and partners across the globe, based on trust, sustainability and mutual interest. It provides investments for transformative, large-scale projects, while offering a respectful, qualitative, and horizontal/equal partnership to our partner countries in line with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement.
Global Gateway is a most comprehensive approach to human and social development addressing all the various sectors including:
- Digital transformation
- Transport and logistics
- Climate and energy
- Education and research, and
- Health
Global Gateway and Trinidad and Tobago
Under the Global Gateway Investment Agenda (GGIA), Trinidad and Tobago can benefit from both national and regional programmes.
National Programmes
For national programmes, the EU has identified the following areas of interest:
- Renewable Energy: Facilitate shift from grey to green hydrogen through a transition to renewable energy (offshore wind and solar).
The EU aims at accompanying the renewable energy transition in Trinidad and Tobago through the introduction of wind energy and the piloting of green hydrogen production to clean TT’s petrochemical industry. This builds on the prominent role by the EU in the area of renewable energy, including the recent launch of a wind strategy for the country alongside the provision of solar power.
- CO2 reduction Project in Venezuela
A project is being developed under the Global Gateway Investment Agenda of Venezuela that would reduce a substantial amount of emissions from reducing venting and flaring in Venezuela. The natural gas would instead been sent to T&T where it would be transformed into liquefied natural gas.
- Digital: Support the digital transition to ensure the island’s digital and socio-economic development.
The EU has identified several areas where the GGIA could play a role in supporting the T&T Government, enabling potential EU investments, and promoting EU digital standards. These areas would be complemented by other specific actions from the EU-LAC Digital Alliance components such as, policy cooperation; support to legal and regulatory frameworks; capacity building and digital skills; policy dialogue and digital diplomacy, among others.
- A blending operation has been approved by the LACIF board, combining EUR 3M in EU grants with a US$ 50M loan from CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean. The EU is exploring options with CAF and the Ministry of Digital Transformation for EU companies to benefit from the project activities and components, and to review the sustainability of the data centre. The EU has also deployed technical assistance in 2023, through the Caribbean Cooperation Facility, to support the TT data protection policy.
- An ongoing EU programme on Digital Finance (implemented by UNCDF) is currently providing extensive regulatory support and financial grants to private FinTech companies to develop digital finance solutions.
- RedClara, the international internet network, is exploring the feasibility of an investment into the BELLA cable extension into Trinidad and Tobago
- Addressing cybersecurity will be done mainly through the EU LAC4 Center in the Dominican Republic, Copernicus services through the new centre in Panama, and Galileo services through the information centre in Mexico.
- In addition, the launch of the Digital Accelerator (component under the EU-LAC Digital Alliance) is intended to benefit TT companies, and in turn help to establish joint ventures with EU companies.
- Water: Security of water supply, wastewater collection and treatment, storm- water management, flood prevention, coastal protection and solid waste management.
The EU aims at supporting a resilient, effective and forward thinking approach to water resource management towards creation of an environment that is conducive to investment in the sector. The EU is exploring how to leverage investments in the sector, which can be facilitated through our guarantees with EIB and CDB.
Regional Caribbean
- Regional Caribbean - Turn Sargassum algae from threat to economic opportunity.
There is a regional consensus on the need for urgent action on Sargassum and the exploration of opportunities for valorisation, shifting the perspective to a natural resource from which economic value can be realized.
Objective: To provide a structured, political, and practical approach to the Caribbean challenge of Sargassum, which is negatively affecting the environment, the economy and the public health across Caribbean countries. The EU intervention can be structured along three main strands of work:
- Research & Innovation
- The creation of an enabling environment, and,
- Investment for value chain development.
- Regional Caribbean – Intra-regional maritime transport
Objective: to address development of the Caribbean intra-regional maritime transport as one of the key sectors to build competitiveness and drive regional economic growth, building on the presence of EU Member State territories in the region, and EU private sector participants.
The EU is implementing this GGIA priority mainly through:
- A transport-related component under the new food security programme targeting investment in port logistics and distribution networks as well as a food security programme with IICA to address sanitary and phytosanitary barriers to intra-regional trade as a push factor for more transport-related options and investments.
- The Global Gateway Support Mechanism for quality transport infrastructure, to provide support on policy/legislative reforms and capacity building, as well as diagnostic studies/analysis.
In addition, the EU will leverage potential INTERREG projects that may be proposed under the 2021-2027 programme contributing to regional maritime transport.
Learn more: https://international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu/policies/global-gateway_en