President Irfaan Ali will travel to Miami, Florida next week for a meeting with US President Donald Trump.  Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad-Bissessar is also expected to travel to Miami to meet with the US President.

The meeting with the leaders is expected to cover issues related to security in the region and energy.

On Wednesday, President Ali met and held discussions with the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio in St. Kitts-Nevis during the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting.

After the meeting, President Ali confirmed that he will be traveling to Miami to meet with the US President early in March.

“We have been working with the U.S. on a number of initiatives, one of which of course is that on regional security. So over the last couple of years, we’ve been engaging on strengthening our bilateral relationship in terms of security and what the U.S. administration is having in Miami, as you alluded to, is a meeting on security matters that is convened by President Trump. And yes, I have been invited to the meeting”, the President said.

The US has been forging closer ties with both Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago as it maintains a military presence in the region as part of a major fight against the narco trade. President Ali said Guyana has been working closely with the US on strengthening their bilateral relationship.

“Guyana has been invited to this meeting and we will be attending. Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister has been speaking in support of Guyana more recently, saying that if anything, any threat coming even from Venezuela were to actualize, that we would stand with you. She made that comment again publicly yesterday at the opening ceremony”, President Ali noted.

Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago are the only two CARICOM states that have been invited to the meeting with the US President.

While many CARICOM leaders have been openly critical of the US Military presence in the region, the President of Guyana and the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago have been supportive of the ongoing intervention by the US military, which has led a number of suspected drug traffickers being killed while traversing the sea, and the capture and removal of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro from his country. He is now in the US facing drug trafficking and other charges.

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