Chinese nationals who want to visit Trinidad and Tobago will likely soon be able to enter the country visa-free, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said.
She spoke on Sunday night at a celebratory dinner held for 40 years of diplomatic relations between China and Trinidad and Tobago, as well as in honor of the visit to Trinidad of Chinese Deputy Minister for the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, He Yafei.
Among the guests at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s were Chinese Ambassador Huang Xingyuan, his wife, Ma Li, several members of Cabinet, and prominent members of the local Chinese community.
The first diplomatic mission from China to Trinidad was established in 1974, while Trinidad and Tobago’s first embassy in China was opened in February.
Persad-Bissessar said following concerns raised by the Chinese government about the difficulty its nationals have had to acquire a Trinidad and Tobago visa, the option to allow Chinese travelers who have already qualified for United States visas or otherwise, to be exempt from needing a Trinidad and Tobago visa will be considered.
She said this will be the first phase as an initial “filtering process” until complete removal of visa requirements. But, she added, if Trinidad and Tobago is to allow Chinese nationals into the country visa-free, this country will expect some sort of reciprocity for Trinidadian nationals to enter China visa-free.
Persad-Bissessar noted that on her official visit in February, visa restrictions were a main concern for Chinese officials.
“Before we had no embassy, now we have one. But China is a vast place. Previously (visas would be obtained) out of London or elsewhere, how difficult that was for a Chinese national to visit Trinidad and Tobago. That didn’t stop them—the Chinese have fortitude,” she quipped, in reference the ship on which the first Chinese indentured laborers came to Trinidad almost 208 years ago.
Persad-Bissessar noted that Jamaica had already removed the visa requirement for Chinese nationals to visit.
“What does that mean? Their business and tourism sectors will grow tremendously from the influx of Chinese who will come to invest and visit,” she said.
She also noted the several major construction projects underway throughout the country, with Chinese firms as main contractors, including the Couva Children’s Hospital, the National Aquatic Centre, the National Velodrome (both also in Couva) and the UWI South Campus in Debe.
“I see the Couva Hospital rising so quickly as I (travel) up and down the highway several times a week and feel so proud. I look forward to it opening later this year” she said.
She noted that there have been concerns from the national community about nationals from other countries coming to work here and whether the foreigners are “boxing bread out of the mouths of the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.”
“We have serious shortages of skilled labor in many areas and perhaps in some of these fields this is where we partner together (with China). This is why I was very happy (both governments have) discussed the possibility of having medical personnel come to Trinidad for partnerships because we have a serious shortage of doctors, nurses and others engaged in the medical field.”
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