Per­mit me to be­gin by ex­tend­ing my con­grat­u­la­tions to the new­ly elect­ed Pres­i­dent of the Sen­ate and to the new­ly elect­ed Speak­er of the House. This is a tremen­dous­ly proud mo­ment for you, and for your fam­i­lies, and I join the Par­lia­ment and the rest of the coun­try in wish­ing you both well, in your new and im­por­tant roles.

I al­so ex­tend warmest greet­ings to the dis­tin­guished Prime Min­is­ter and Chief Jus­tice of Bar­ba­dos, who have been kind enough to ac­cept the in­vi­ta­tion of the new Gov­ern­ment of Trinidad and To­ba­go to share with us the ex­pe­ri­ence of this mem­o­rable oc­ca­sion.

Per­mit me, as well, to con­grat­u­late, once again, the new­ly elect­ed gov­ern­ment on your re­cent suc­cess at the polls. You have earned an over­whelm­ing ma­jor­i­ty in the Par­lia­ment and, with it, the re­spon­si­bil­i­ty to use your sig­nif­i­cant man­date, wise­ly and ju­di­cious­ly. Spe­cial con­grat­u­la­tions to the Ho­n­ourable Prime Min­is­ter, on your his­toric re­turn to that po­si­tion, and on be­ing the on­ly fe­male ever to have held it.