Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley has highlighted the significance of the new international airport in Kumasi, Ghana, stating that its launch opens doors for enhanced travel opportunities between Trinidad and Tobago and Ghana.
According to tt.loopnews.com, Dr Rowley, who delivered an address at the Akwasidae Durbar Silver Jubilee Celebration of His Royal Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, The Asantehene in Kumasi on May 12, was the special guest of honour at the event.
Among the thousands attending the celebration was His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana, who also delivered remarks.
Dr Rowley said this international airport marks the first steps of international travel possibilities between the two countries.
“…the quickest and most effective avenues we could probably explore would be those which enable the smooth movement of people, goods and capital between our countries, which would improve the tourism and trade outlook between our countries with all of the attendant economic activity.
“With the opening of the new international airport in Kumasi we see the first steps of international travel possibility between our peoples.
“This will not only provide a bridge between Trinidad and Tobago and Ghana, to join hands, but will also provide a bridge between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the African continent to increase trade and investment between Africa and the Caribbean.
“The growing relationship between the Afreximbank, the Africa Business Council, and the CARICOM Private Sector Organisation to establish the Africa-Caribbean Business Council, demonstrates the mutual interest of African and Caribbean organisations to growing together, and we in Government have a duty and obligation to facilitate.”
Dr Rowley also thanked African countries for coming to Trinidad and Tobago’s aid during the COVID-19 pandemic by donating vaccines when they were sorely needed.
“I must share with you that shortly after my return to Trinidad and Tobago from Ghana in March 2020, we were struck by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that hurt us all. During that period, when there was much uncertainty on how we would cope with and manage the devastation of the pandemic on our economies and societies in CARICOM.
“Countries in the international community, including many of our traditional partners, spared no expense to hoard all of the very resources that we needed to help us survive. They did not hoard it for us but rather for themselves; for the benefit of their own populations at the expense of the people of the developing world. That pandemic showed us who are our friends and who are our family.
“And then at the height of the pandemic, Africa came to our aid. With the support of His Excellency Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa; His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana; and His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, then President of Kenya, I, as the then Chair of CARICOM, was able to broker an arrangement with the African Union to allow CARICOM Member States, so desiring, to access the African Union’s African Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP) to secure vaccines which allowed CARICOM countries a pathway to survival of life and livelihood at a time when it seemed line Mission Impossible to access those products even on commercial terms.”
