Sean Sobers told Parliament T&T pressed for climate finance at CHOGM. A U.S. State Department official visits Monday.
Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Minister Sean Sobers told Parliament on Friday that Trinidad and Tobago used the 2026 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Antigua and Barbuda to advance national priorities. The meeting ran from Nov. 1 to 4 under the theme “accelerating partnerships and investment for a prosperous Commonwealth.” Sobers said the country’s participation “was not ceremonial; it was strategic.”
The T&T delegation took part in a reception and dinner hosted by King Charles III, executive sessions on trade, investment and climate finance, and the Commonwealth Business, Youth, Women’s and People’s forums. It also attended ministerial meetings on small states, a global summit on eye health, a sports summit and roundtables on national security technologies, supply chains and energy resilience. Sobers said the delegation held bilateral talks with the United Kingdom, Ghana, Canada, India, Australia and Sri Lanka. The ministers responsible for sport and for social development spoke as panelists at the youth and women’s forums.
Sobers said T&T called for and received commitments on faster access to climate finance, loss and damage funding, and investment in renewable energy and resilient infrastructure. The country promoted itself as a stable destination for investment in energy, manufacturing, creative industries, tourism, agriculture and the digital economy. Sobers said T&T also raised the protection of energy and food infrastructure during armed conflict and disasters, in line with its planned advocacy at the United Nations Security Council. He said T&T took part constructively in talks on reparatory justice, acknowledging the United Kingdom’s new pledge.
Sobers said heads of government adopted the CHOGM 2026 Communique, with commitments on small-state partnerships and investment, climate resilience ahead of COP31, ocean governance and the blue economy, youth empowerment, gender equality and health systems. He said the Commonwealth Business Forum also produced new investment commitments in renewable energy, youth skills and trade, from which T&T stands to benefit.
Sobers said T&T’s partnership with the United States is “of utmost priority.” He welcomed the visit to Port of Spain on Monday, Nov. 16, of Assistant Secretary of State Juan Pablo Segura, who will hold meetings on homeland security, transnational crime, energy, trade and an entrepreneurs forum. Sobers said T&T “is not a fair weather friend” of the United States, its largest trading partner. The transcript of his statement ends mid-sentence.
This report draws on Minister Sean Sobers’ statement to Parliament on Nov. 13.