Trinidad & Tobago celebrates NRI Arrival Day on May 30
NRI Arrival Day in 1845 is a national holiday in Trinidad & Tobago.

New Delhi, May 26, 2007
Col Mahesh Chandar

NRIs (non-resident Indians) , first batch arrived in 1845 in Trinidad & Tobago. The High Commissioner of Trinidad & Tobago, Pundit Maniedeo Persad in New Delhi said that his country is celebrating NRI Arrival Day on May 30, 2007. Indian (NRIs) Arrival Day is a national holiday in Trinidad & Tobago.

Minister for (NRI) Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said that he was looking forward to his visit to the Caribbean nation and participation in the Indian Arrival Day celebrations on May 30. He said, "My trip to the Caribbean has been long overdue. My visit is aimed at strengthening ties between our two countries and I will be leaving for Port of Spain Monday night."

Most of the NRIs arived in Trinidad & Tobago form Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh to work in the sugarcane plantations.

Trinidad & Tobago High Commissioner Pundit Maniedeo Persad said:

• There had been a 300 percent increase in travel from India to Trinidad & Tobago in the last three years.
• Trinidad & Tobago official delegation is currently on a tour of India for the Indian Arrival day celebrations. The group will visit Lucknow, Kanpur and Basti - places where people of Indian origin in Trinidad & Tobago trace their ancestry.
• The Bank of Baroda has been given approval to begin business in Trinidad & Tobago
• The Essar group has invested $1.2-billion in a steel plant in that country and NRI L.N. Mittal's first steel plant in the region.
• The first ever Bollywood film 'Dulha Mil Gaya' by Vivek Vaswani is being shot on location in Trinidad & Tobago.
• The Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat visited the Caribbean nation in November 2006.
• In February, 2007, a high-powered delegation including speaker of Trinidad & Tobago's House of Representatives Barendra Sinanan and President of Senate Linda Baboolal came to India on the invitation of the Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.
• We are the the most prosperous nation in the Caribbean and thanks to its oil and natural gas resources.
• In 2006, economic growth rate exceed 12.5 percent
• We have a literacy rate of over 98 percent and a per capita income of over $15,000

I invite Indian investors to be part of happening Trinidad and Tobago. Our basic mission is to strengthen relations between the two countries.

According to the local news paper in March 2007, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) along with the High Commission of Trinidad and Tobago organised a business meeting with Honorable Kenneth Valley, Minister for Trade and Industry, Trinidad and Tobago and the accompanying business delegation, in Mumbai.

Managing Director, Essar Steel Caribbean Ltd spoke of the high powered delegation representing a cross section of sectors, namely Oil and Gas, Agri food processing, shipping and fishing vessels, entertainment, real estate and housing infrastructure, canning and packaging for processing food, car manufacturers, ICT both hardware and software, construction companies for roads, highway and ports, stone - marble and granite, furniture, medical equipments, healthcare and pharma, farm machinery and agri equipments, street lamps and lighting, cold storage manufacturing - supply chain, consumer durables and automobile parts.

Mr Gopal Srinivasan, GM, New India Assurance Ltd spoke of his experiences as Head of New India Assurance - Trinidad and Tobago. He pointed out that New India had extended its operations to other parts of the Caribbean with Trinidad & Tobago as the base, He listed the salient features of Trinidad & Tobaga: a booming economy

Mr Andrew Stuart Dalgliesh, Chairman, SCL (Trinidad) Ltd gave an insight into the advantages that Trinidad & Tobago provided for manufacturing. Explaining how the manufacturing sector was not just petrochem based, he said petrochem was just the cover, the book of Trinidad & Tobago had many other pages - referring to other industries.

Mr Khalid Hassanali, President, Evolving TecKnologies & Enterprise Development Co Ltd (eTeck) spoke of competitive advantages, including Government Support in form of Infrastructure (IT, Ports, Utilities); Incentives & Investor Friendly environment; Preferential Access to International Markets (Trade Agreements) and Industrial Accommodation at Competitive Rates.

Trinidad & Tobago High Commissioner Pundit Maniedeo Persad requested investors, please contact me at Chancery 6/25 Shanti Niketan, New Delhi 110021

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