The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago convened a Technical Working Meeting with the Chairman of Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL), Mr. Phillip Marshal and the President of Aerovías del Continente Americano (AVIANCA), Mr. Germán Efromovich to facilitate dialogue on opportunities for collaboration and cooperation between the two airlines. H.E. Mervyn Assam, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary for Trade and Industry of Trinidad and Tobago presided over the meeting which gathered high level representatives including Mr. Julio Orozco, Director of Sustainable Tourism of the Association of Caribbean States and H.E. Dr. Patti Londoño Jaramillo, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia.

Chargé d’affaires, Mr. Julio Orozco (right) receives a courtesy visit from newly appointed High Commissioner of Jamaica to Trinidad and Tobago, H.E. David Prendergast.

H.E. Alfonso Múnera, Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) met with Mr. Rolando Ocampo, Vice President of the Board of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography of Mexico (INEGI) and Mr. Huitzilihuitl Herrada, the Deputy General Manager of Social-Human and Sustainable Development at the Mexican International Development Cooperation Agency (AMEXCID). H. E. Mario Arriola Woog, Ambassador of Mexico to Trinidad and Tobago was also present for the meeting.

The meeting examined two current cooperation initiatives between the ACS and the Government of Mexico which seeks to promote the development of spatial data infrastructure among the Member Countries of the Association. Moreover, the projects are aimed at strengthening the generation, use and sharing of geospatial information and, more importantly, to integrate the Caribbean countries that are not yet members, into the United Nations Initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM).

Mr. Julio Orozco, Director of Sustainable Tourism of the ACS is representing the Association at the III Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Summit which is being held in Costa Rica from January 28th- 29th.