His Excellency MrArun Kumar Sahu, High Commissioner of India to Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), and concurrently accredited to Grenada, Dominica and Montserrat, has said that he’s been telling Indian businesses that they should engage more with the Caribbean nations, especially T&T, the largest among them. Due to its advantageous location T&T is easily accessible from North and South America (it is within 7 nautical miles from Venezuela), as well as Europe. This twin-island nation can, therefore, be an ideal base for intra-Caribbean commerce and trade, and also trade with other South American and Central American nations. Conversely, Caribbean businesses should try and reach beyond their comfort zones of doing business with their traditional partners and look at India which is one of the largest growing economies globally, and has a lot to offer in terms of the quality and pricing of commodities and services. He was speaking at an interactive video conference titled Bilateral Trade & Investment Opportunities between India and Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago: Post Covid-19 organized by FIEO on June 29, 2021 that was attended by over 100 Indian companies across India.

High Commissioner Sahu recommended 10 sectors that both sides can look at for cooperation, going forward. They include: 1) IT and IT-enabled services, 2) pharmaceuticals, 3) agriculture and agro-biotechnology, 4) new energy, especially wind and solar energy, 5) tourism including medical tourism, 6) textiles and garments including fashion wear and ethnic wear, 7) higher education, 8) automobile sector, 9) Ayurveda and wellness, and 10) films, music and entertainment. One of the challenges of doing business with island nations is the relatively smaller size of their markets. The population of T&T is 1.3 million, and that of Grenada is 110,000 while Dominica has 70,000 people. There are, however, niche areas that can be looked—for instance, both Grenada and Dominica have a Citizenship by Investment Programme for potential Indian investors, and travelling to the Caribbean is never an issue in terms of visa requirements.