For­mer prime min­is­ter Stu­art Young has wel­comed the cor­dial diplo­mat­ic ex­changes be­tween T&T and Venezuela fol­low­ing last month’s earth­quakes, while cau­tion­ing that “much deep­er is­sues” be­tween the two coun­tries re­main un­re­solved.

Re­spond­ing to ques­tions from Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day, Young said the dev­as­ta­tion caused by the earth­quakes, which re­sult­ed in sig­nif­i­cant loss of life, dis­place­ment and de­struc­tion, re­quired a hu­man­i­tar­i­an re­sponse rather than po­lit­i­cal di­vi­sion.

De­scrib­ing the sit­u­a­tion in Venezuela as “sim­ply aw­ful and sad,” Young said T&T had a re­spon­si­bil­i­ty to as­sist its clos­est neigh­bour.