(Trinidad Express) Trinidad and Tobago has more than 100 years’ experience in the oil and gas sector and has local experts in the industry, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has said in her bid to get Brazil to partner with this country in the energy sector.
Persad-Bissessar was speaking at a trade and investment mission in Brazil on Thursday.
She led a delegation there with the hopes of attracting business and trade.
“To date Trinidad and Tobago remains the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas to the United States of America. Indeed we have been used as a model by other countries which are now developing their gas industry. This is particularly so for the African countries and our National Gas Company has been recently selected to partner with Ghana to develop and implement a project to transport, process and distribute natural gas to their existing downstream facilities,” said Persad-Bissessar.
“Our energy service companies are making their presence felt in Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Canada, the USA, Venezuela, the Caricom region and very soon, I trust we will bring this expertise to Brazil,” she said.
A partnership between this country and Brazil could open up many new opportunities for people, said Persad-Bissessar.
“Trinidad and Tobago can boast of having an open, free market economy; a vibrant democracy; a skilled work force; proper business practices; a strong and growing ICT infrastructure; and respect for property and profit rights. Our country offers investors attractive and competitive incentives. The corporation tax for manufacturing operations is 25 per cent while energy-related operations pay 35 per cent. Manufacturers are allowed 90 per cent depreciation allowance on machinery and equipment within their first year of operations,” she said.
She added that investors, under special circumstances, are also able to benefit from certain tax exemptions such as corporation tax ( for free zone companies); customs duty; value added tax (VAT), withholding tax, work permit fees and container examination fees.
Persad-Bissessar noted that the Trade Ministry is implementing a new business service called TTBizLink.
TTBizLink is an IT platform known as a single electronic window, which will provide a range of Government business services online.
“Patterned after Singapore’s famous TradeNet, TTBizLink is intended to significantly reduce the time and costs of doing business in Trinidad and Tobago,” she said.
Persad-Bissessar also took the opportunity to extend an invitation for everyone to attend the Trinidad and Tobago Investment Week, which runs from June 13 -18 in Port of Spain.
She said this will comprise two major events- the Caribbean Investment Forum (CIF), from June 13 -14, and the Trade and Investment Convention, from June 15 -18.
