Senator the Honourable Dennis Moses, Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs on September 30, 2015 attended a Ministerial Breakfast Meeting at the Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein to the United Nations which was hosted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Liechtenstein. This annual meeting brings together individuals who hold political-level positions in their countries and are strongly committed to the cause of international criminal justice, in particular to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
During his intervention, Minister Moses highlighted that the forum was ideal to engage in constructive dialogue on current challenges facing the Court with a view to generating the political momentum needed to promote the universality of the Rome Statute of the ICC and to fight against impunity. Minister Moses also underscored that Trinidad and Tobago remained resolute in its commitment to support the mandate of the ICC, and its primary objective to help put an end to impunity for perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community, as well as to contribute to the prevention of such heinous crimes.
Minister Moses then attended the CARICOM-India Ministerial Meeting at the UN Headquarters in the margins of the 70th session of the General Assembly. The meeting saw the presence of the Honourable Sushma Swaraj, Minister of External Affairs of India, representatives from CARICOM Member States and the Secretary General of CARICOM. During the meeting discussions were held for further strengthening of India-CARICOM bilateral relations and a range of other issues of mutual benefit to India and CARICOM.
Minister Moses later held a bilateral meeting with His Excellency Erlan Idrissov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan. During the discussions the following issues among other were raised; the possibility of the Government of Kazakhstan providing scholarships for Trinidad and Tobago nationals and the possibility of technical co-operation between both countries in the area of energy particularly given the experience of Trinidad and Tobago in the processing of natural gas.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan used the opportunity to request the support of Trinidad and Tobago for his country’s candidature for membership as a non-permanent member on the United Nations Security Council for 2017-2018.
Minister Moses later attended a Ministerial Nordic-CARICOM working luncheon hosted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden at the Permanent Mission of Sweden to the United Nations. The meeting saw the presence of Ministers of Foreign Affairs from Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Lucia, St. Kitts Nevis and Suriname. Also in attendance were the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway.
The discussions focused on enhancing and expanding cooperation between CARICOM and the Nordic countries. As was agreed by the CARICOM caucus in New York, Minister Moses’ intervention focused on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 which is to ‘conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.”
It was also agreed at the meeting that the following areas should be the focus for follow up action:
- A Memorandum of Understanding between CARICOM and Nordic countries;
- Further cooperation on climate change in the lead up to COP 21 in Paris;
- Sweden to advance with the European Union (EU) the concerns of CARICOM States with regard to EU blacklisting;
- Further cooperation on issues pertinent to crime and security.
Minister Moses later returned to the UN Headquarters where he had a bilateral meeting with the Honourable Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ghana. The Ministers discussed issues of bilateral interest to Trinidad and Tobago and Ghana.
