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International Meetings Build T&T’s Capacity for Executing Major Projects

One of the stories that has not been properly told is the capacity that Trinidad and Tobago has demonstrated to the world, and to itself, in implementing and executing major projects leading up to and including the Fifth Summit of the Americas. These projects included the construction of the Southern Terminal at Piarco International Airport, the dredging of the Port of Spain Harbour, and the installation of security surveillance cameras in the East-West Corridor. Perhaps the most prominent, and costly, but the project most likely to yield a positive return on investment, was the Hyatt Regency Hotel, International Financial Complex and Waterfront project.

All of the above are tangible, nuts and bolts construction-based projects that over time will earn value for the citizens and the national economy. However, the Fifth Summit – less concrete a project than those described above yet no less substantial ¬– produced inestimable benefits not only for Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean but also for hemispheric relations.

According to Jose Miguel Insulza, Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), “…the Summit’s expectations and objectives were completely achieved…the Heads of State and Government left the meeting convinced that it is possible to do a common significant work; that hemispheric relations are important and that these can and should be significantly improved…with the Summit, the atmosphere of hemispheric relations has been greatly strengthened.” He added, “this Summit of goodwill will open a new period in the history of the Americas and of our organisation”. This view was reinforced by the United States White House Advisor for the Summit, who said the Fifth Summit was “a tremendous success for the hemisphere”, insisting that “this Summit will go down in history as an immensely successful event”.

While expanded airport facilities, sea port capacity, the ability to detect illegal activity, and the construction of state-of-the-art hotel, corporate office space and recreational space for the public in the capital city are infrastructural legacies, there are other legacies of the Summit that are less tangible but very real. These include human resource capacity development in:

Event management – international summits, private sector, civil society and youth fora
Logistics – transportation, accreditation, accommodation and catering planning and implementation
International and hemispheric policy development – leading multilateral diplomatic negotiations to successful conclusions, exemplified in the technical capacity to lead the Summit Implementation Review Group to build consensus with the support of and liaising with international institutions
Marketing and international communications coordination
Web development and social networking
Safety, intelligence and security
Education and familiarity with the Americas
Foreign policy and international relations

Five decades of trade sanctions against Cuba were significantly eroded as the OAS, in the aftermath of the Fifth Summit, removed barriers against Cuba’s re-entry to the Inter-American system. The United States and Venezuela restored diplomatic relations and the US, Brazil, Venezuela, the Organization of American States Secretary General and its current Chairman, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning, all agreed in their condemnation of the military coup that overthrew democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras.

These (“hard” and “soft”) legacies served Trinidad and Tobago and CARICOM well as the planning and implementation of measures to host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) moved into full swing in mid-2009. The organisational and administrative capacity developed at the Fifth Summit of the Americas assisted in the preparatory work for CHOGM. Having recently organised an international Summit, the levels of confidence and knowledge-derived experience helped the National Secretariat eliminate many uncertainties and correct errors of the previous Summit.

The entire physical infrastructural legacy for CHOGM was already in place from the Fifth Summit. The communications and marketing strategy of the Government and the National Secretariat was to engage the children and youth and, by extension, their parents, teachers and the rest of the population in order to encourage their participation in and add to the benefits they would gain from the historic event. Plans for CHOGM included the following:

Primary schools poster prize based on Commonwealth themes
Secondary schools Mock Commonwealth Heads of Government
YouTube amateur video competition
Tertiary educational institutions Policy Paper prize
CHOGM 5K run for Human Values
Commonwealth exhibition at NALIS Public Library
Numismatic and Philatelic Commonwealth commemorative stamp and coin issue
Commonwealth Champions programme of beneficiaries and role models

The theme of the event – “Partnering for a More Equitable and Sustainable Future” – reinforced for Commonwealth members and the nation that Trinidad and Tobago is indeed “Where the World Meets”.

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