About Trinidad & Tobago Consul

Trinidad and Tobago boast of distinctive Creole traditions and cuisines. The country covers a 5,128 sq km area and has many natural and cultural wonders that attract tourists to the country from far and wide.

Trinidad and Tobago’s capital is Port of Spain which hosts the renowned and boisterous carnival featuring calypso and soca music yearly.

English is the official language in Trinidad and Tobago. The other popular languages spoken in the country include Trinidadian English Creole, Tobagonian Creole, and Trinidadian Hindustani.

Trinidad and Tobago is the home to the Steel Pan, the only percussion instrument to have been created within the last one hundred (100) years.

Trinidad, the larger island is crossed from east to west by a mountain range which is an extension of the Andes.

The smaller island of Tobago has a central volcanic mountain range and is known for its beaches and the Tobago Main Ridge Forest Reserve. In the offshore waters of Pigeon Point in Tobago, a white coral pool located in the middle of the ocean is located. It is also called the Nylon Pool as a result of the presence of a sandbar under the waters in the area. The pool’s waters have a different color than the rest of the ocean. As one approaches the pool by boat, a distinct change from the deep blue color of the ocean to the turquoise clear water of the pool can be observed. The water in the Nylon Pool is quite shallow and varies from waist-to-chest deep for a person of average size. It is one of the country’s biggest attractions.

Tobago also bares one of the world’s oldest protected rainforest and recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. This is the Tobago main Ridge Forest Reserve, established on April 13, 1776 , covering an area of about 3958 hectares. The rainforests here are home to a significant diversity of flora and fauna with about 16 mammalian species, 210 species of birds, and other animals reside here.

Trinidad and Tobago is one of the region’s wealthiest and most well-developed country. It is the third richest country by GDP / per capita in the Americas after the United States and Canada. It is recognized as a high income economy by the World Bank.

The country’s economy is primarily industrial with its emphasis on petroleum and petrochemicals. Trinidad and Tobago is the leading Caribbean producer of oil and gas.

Trinidad and Tobago’s wealth is attributable to its large reserves and exploitation of oil and natural gas. The economy is dependent on its oil and the emphasis on its natural gas and petrochemicals reserves.

Trinidad and Tobago has utilised proceeds from the oil and gas revenue to educate her citizens  with  education being free from pre-school to University. Public transport is free to every student as well as every pensioner 65 years and over.

Agriculture contributes only 0.3 per cent of the national GDP.

The lure of industrial work as a result of its oil and gas reserves have been to the detriment of agriculture. The Government is prioritizing agriculture as a means of diversifying the economy, increase the country’s food security and provide productive and sustainable employment opportunities.

Major industries: petroleum and petroleum products, liquefied natural gas, methanol, ammonia, urea, steel products, beverages, food processing, cement, cotton textiles.

Agricultural products: cocoa, rice, citrus, coffee, vegetables, poultry, sugar

Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, asphalt

Export commodities: petroleum and petroleum products, liquefied natural gas, methanol, ammonia, urea, steel products, beverages, cereal and cereal products, sugar, cocoa, coffee, citrus fruit, vegetables, flowers

Trade Partners include: the U.S. (41.7%), the E.U. (11.6%), Argentina (6.8%), Colombia (4.1%) and Peru (3.9%) for exports as well as the U.S. (32%), Gabon (12.5%), the E.U. (10.3%), China (7.1%) and Colombia (5.5%) for imports (WTO).

Political  & Economic Ties with Ghana

Trinidad and Tobago – Ghana relations dates as far back as the post-colonial period. Both countries are former British colonies.

George Padmore, a Trinidadian Pan-Africanist Journalist was a close ally of Ghana’s founding father, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

History has it that the chair on which the Speaker of Parliament for Trinidad and Tobago sits to conduct business of the house was donated by Dr Kwame Nkrumah on behalf of the people of Ghana as a gift on their attainment of independence in 1962.

Cultural Ties with Ghana

At Fort Saint George in Scarborough, Tobago, there is a register of slaves and slave trading activities in the 17th and 18th Century. There are names like: Kwame, Kofi, Kwesi, Attah, Kojo, Quarshie and many other Ghanaian and African names. Traditional folklore and storytelling in Ghana known as “Ananse Stories” told to children by elders, usually in a courtyard around the fireplace is also practiced under the same circumstances in Trinidad and Tobago and known as “Nancy Story”.

The daily co-operative collection made towards micro-finance saving schemes in  Ghana today  known as “Susu” is also known in Trinidad and Tobago as “Susu”. It is believed to have started as a scheme by freed slaves hoping to make enough money to travel back to Africa.

Traditional religious practices of ancestral worship, pouring of libation etc. are similar to practices in Ghana.

Lord Kitchener, the Calypsonian from Trinidad and Tobago composed the song “Birth of Ghana” for Ghana’s independence celebration on March 6^th, 1957.