Prime Minister Keith Rowley held a Press Conference at 2pm yesterday afternoon (Sunday 22nd May 2022) at the VIP Lounge, Piarco International Airport, following his return from a week in Guyana.

​Below are the key points discussed at that Press Conference:

- Prime Min­is­ter Kei­th Row­ley an­nounced that Trinidad and To­ba­go has been cho­sen to re­ceive “not-insignificant” fund­ing from the Bill & Melin­da Gates Foun­da­tion, which is led in part by one of the world’s richest men.

- He not­ed that re­la­tions be­tween Trinidad and To­ba­go and Guyana are good and said he al­so had good re­la­tions with Guyana’s Vice-Pres­i­dent Bhar­rat Jagdeo, who had raised the ire of some when he de­scribed T&T’s econ­o­my as “falling apart” ear­li­er this year. “He will tell you and I will tell you we get along very well.”

- The Prime Minister said the con­cerns raised by Guyana’s busi­ness cham­ber on the non-tar­iff bar­ri­ers were a case of their busi­ness com­mu­ni­ty want­i­ng the best for their coun­try. He said there should be no issues as long as bar­ri­ers do not hurt T&T’s econ­o­my and added that the Treaty of Ch­aguara­mas, re­gard­ing trade, should take prece­dence if the in­ter­ests of CARICOM and the in­ter­ests of the free mar­ket and econ­o­my are to pre­vail.

- P.M Rowley said, “I have been in Guyana for a week and I’ve had noth­ing but a warm wel­come and a clear un­der­stand­ing and en­thu­si­asm from the Gov­ern­ment and peo­ple of Guyana.”

- He added that Trinidad and To­ba­go con­tin­ues to work with Guyana’s en­er­gy sec­tor and that the Na­tion­al He­li­copter Ser­vice has con­firmed its third con­tract to ser­vice the off­shore Rep­sol fields in Guyana.

- The Prime Min­is­ter al­so an­nounced that the month of June will be a very busy month for Trinidad and To­ba­go and CARICOM in­ter­na­tion­al­ly.

- He said he has made a de­ci­sion to at­tend the Sum­mit of the Amer­i­c­as in Los An­ge­les from 6th June to 10th June 2022 and that the ma­jor­i­ty of CARICOM mem­bers will at­tend. CARICOM had ob­ject­ed to the Unit­ed States’ po­si­tion to­wards Cu­ba, but Prime Minister Row­ley said that with the U.S. mak­ing some con­ces­sions, it was felt that CARICOM need­ed to at­tend to ad­dress is­sues that are im­por­tant to the re­gion.

- P.M Row­ley said a T&T con­tin­gent, led by For­eign Af­fairs Min­is­ter Dr. Amery Browne, will al­so at­tend the Com­mon­wealth Heads of Gov­ern­ment Meeting (CHOGM) in Rwan­da be­gin­ning on 21st June 2022 and that T&T will vote for Ja­maican For­eign Af­fairs Min­is­ter Kam­i­na John­son Smith as the new Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al of the Com­mon­wealth.

- Prime Minister Row­ley will not at­tend CHOGM but will be at­tend­ing a world sum­mit called by the Eu­ro­pean Union on 21st June and 22nd June 2022 to dis­cuss mat­ters of de­vel­op­ment that T&T and the re­gion are in­ter­est­ed in. He will rep­re­sent CARICOM to­geth­er with CARICOM’s Chair­man, Prime Min­is­ter of Be­lize John Briceno, and Ja­maica Prime Min­is­ter An­drew Hol­ness. Three (3) Latin Amer­i­can lead­ers will al­so at­tend, to­geth­er with the lead­ers of E.U. coun­tries, the Pres­i­dent of the Unit­ed States of Amer­i­ca and lead­ers of Asian coun­tries.

- The Prime Minister noted, “So June is a very busy month for me, T&T and CARICOM be­cause sig­nif­i­cant de­ci­sion-mak­ing is to be had.”

If you missed Sunday’s Press Conference, you can watch it below in its entirety.

[Source: T&T Guardian]

Prime Minister Keith Rowley will be hosting a Press Conference at 2pm this afternoon (Sunday 22nd May 2022) at the VIP Lounge, Piarco International Airport. Today’s Press Conference was announced by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) yesterday afternoon.

Prime Minister Rowley departed for Guyana on Tuesday (17th May 2022) where he attended a regional meeting on agriculture. CARICOM leaders also gathered in Georgetown for the Agri-Investment Forum and Expo. While in Guyana, the Prime Minister engaged in bilateral discussions with His Excellency, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.

Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs, Senator the Hon. Dr Amery Browne, Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, Senator the Hon. Kazim Hosein and Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture, Land, Fisheries, Senator the Hon. Avinash Singh accompanied the Prime Minister on this trip.

Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert acted as Prime Minister in the interim.

Watch the live stream of the Press Conference below when it begins at 2pm, courtesy of TTT.

Rihanna and rapper A$AP Rocky are officially parents, having welcomed a baby boy a few days ago on 13th May 2022 in Los Angeles, according to official records. The new baby is the first child for both Rihanna and A$AP. The name of the baby boy is unknown at this time.

The couple announced they were expecting back in January with a NYC photo shoot. Rihanna was seen proudly showing off her baby bump throughout her pregnancy, wearing several designer looks.

A$AP was arrested just last month in a surprise bust as the couple's private plane touched down at LAX. Law enforcement sources told TMZ at the time that the bust was in connection to an incident where the rapper is accused of firing shots at an acquaintance, grazing his hand. Nonetheless, Rihanna continued to support A$AP, even attending one of his shows — cheering for him backstage just a week after the arrest.

Congrats to the happy couple!

This is a developing story - refresh this page for updates.

[Source: TMZ]

The Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Service (TTMS) says it’s 2022 Hurricane Season Prediction favours four (4) Tropical Storms as the most likely number of Storms to form in the Area of Interest for Trinidad and Tobago. However, the Met Office notes that the likely range is two (2) to five (5) Tropical Storms forming in the area. Two (2) Hurricanes are most likely to form.

There is a 40% chance of above-normal activity in the Area of Interest for Trinidad and Tobago, a 47% chance of near-normal activity and a 13% chance of below-normal activity.

The TTMS presented its 2022 Hurricane Season Forecast during the 2022 Wet Season – Fourteenth National Climate Outlook Forum (NCOF XIV), which was hosted virtually this morning (Tuesday 17th May 2022).

The Met Office forecasts the following in the Area of Interest for Trinidad and Tobago in 2022:

• Most likely number of named Storms = 4 (The 1991 - 2020 average is 4).
• ​Likely number of named Storms = 2 - 5 (The 1991 - 2020 average is 4).
• Most likely number of Hurricanes = 2 (The 1991 - 2020 average is 1).
• ​Likely number of Hurricanes = 2 - 3 (The 1991 - 2020 average is 1).

Below are some key points from the Met Office of what is likely to happen during the Atlantic Hurricane Season, which officially begins on 1st June 2022:

• The region faces another active Hurricane Season in the Area of Interest.
• Heightened Tropical Storm activity is more likely during the peak of the Season from August to October, but most likely in August and September.
• Any Tropical Cyclone forming in Area of Interest has the potential to threaten Trinidad and Tobago, and the rest of the Eastern Caribbean.
• A Season only needs one (2) Tropical Storm or Hurricane to cause devastation in Trinidad and Tobago, for it to be an Active Season. Citizens should increase preparation.

The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) has announced that Prime Minister Keith Rowley will depart for Guyana today (Tuesday 17th May 2022) where he will attend a regional meeting on agriculture. CARICOM leaders are expected to gather in Georgetown this week for the Agri-Investment Forum and Expo.

The OPM states that the forum, themed “Investing in Vision 25 by 2025,” is aimed at reducing the region’s food import bill and helping to attract investment in the agriculture sector. The forum is also expected to address issues directly related to investment in agriculture and food production, including cross-border investment, climate change-smart agriculture and related infrastructure development.

While in Guyana, the Prime Minister is also expected to engage in bilateral discussions with His Excellency, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.

Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs, Senator the Hon. Dr. Amery Browne, Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, Senator the Hon. Kazim Hosein and Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture, Land, Fisheries, Senator the Hon. Avinash Singh, will accompany the Prime Minister on this trip.

Minister of Finance, the Hon. Colm Imbert, will act as Prime Minister in the interim.

The new moon to commence the month of Ramadan was not seen on Friday evening (1st April 2022) and therefore the first night of Ramadan and first Taraweeh will be on Saturday 2nd April 2022. The first day of Ramadan and first day of fasting will be on Sunday 3rd April 2022.

The Anjuman Sunnat ul Jamaat Association (ASJA) said on Friday evening that reports received from other Caribbean countries have all confirmed that the new moon was not sighted in their respective localities.

The Association said as such, the month of Sha'baan will complete its 30th day on Saturday and accordingly, the month of Ramadan will commence from sunset.