Back in February, during a presentation made in the course of the Budget Debate in the National Assembly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hugh Todd, made a presentation that amounted to an outline of some important aspects of the country’s foreign policy, essentially a ‘brief’ on the intended realignment of some aspects thereof, that took account of the envisaged changes of the economy arising out of the role which it was anticipated the country’s oil resources would play in the shaping of its relations with the rest of the international community, going forward. Whereas, hitherto, the distinguishing features of the country’s foreign policy had been underpinned by a accustomed adherence to the tenets of the United Nations, Caribbean integration and the maintenance of a posture on non-alignment, what the country’s confirmed possession of large deposits of oil and gas meant was that it can now ‘afford’ a foreign policy posture that took greater account of the need to strengthen the country’s economy.
