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Plan­ning, Eco­nom­ic Af­fairs and De­vel­op­ment Min­is­ter and Min­is­ter in the Min­istry of Fi­nance Kennedy Swarats­ingh says Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s meet­ing with Unit­ed States Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump at the Shield of the Amer­i­c­as Sum­mit could af­fect re­la­tions be­tween Trinidad and To­ba­go and the Unit­ed States.

Swarats­ingh said the meet­ing sig­nals a phase of co­op­er­a­tion in­volv­ing se­cu­ri­ty, en­er­gy and trade. He said the en­gage­ment could sup­port eco­nom­ic re­silience, na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty and the coun­try’s role in en­er­gy, trade and lo­gis­tics.

He said the sum­mit fo­cused on re­spons­es to or­gan­ised crime, mi­gra­tion and geopo­lit­i­cal com­pe­ti­tion in the hemi­sphere. He said pub­lic safe­ty and na­tion­al sta­bil­i­ty are re­quire­ments for de­vel­op­ment, eco­nom­ic growth and in­vestor con­fi­dence.