Australian High Commission

Trinidad and Tobago

High Commission address: 18 Herbert Street, St Clair, PORT OF SPAIN - Telephone: 822 5450 - Fax: 822 5490

ANZAC Day Dawn Service

The Australian High Commission would like to thank all who attended the Anzac Day Dawn Service on Wednesday 25 April 2012.

Sincere gratitude goes out to the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force, the Chaguaramas Military Museum and the British High Commission (representing the Government of New Zealand) for their respective roles in commemorating the first major military action of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) during World War I.

Advice for Australian Citizens Entering Trinidad and Tobago

Australian Citizens require a visa for entry into Trinidad and Tobago. If a visa cannot be obtained prior to entry a visa waiver may be granted on arrival at the discretion of the immigration officer.

As of February 2012, the cost of a TT visa waiver is exactly USD67 or TTD 400. For further information, please contact Immigration at the Piarco International Airport at +1-868-669-5895.

Direct Aid Program (DAP)

2011-12

For the 2011-12 financial year, the following projects are being funded under the DAP:

Antigua & Barbuda

Team Fresh Produce - a seedling project to promote food security

GARD Centre – an agricultural incubator project aimed at providing youths with the entrepreneurial skills needed to become farmers.

Barbados

Centre for Counselling Addiction Support Alternatives - an anger management program for at-risk youth

Red Cross - upgrade of the kitchen for the Meals on Wheels program

West Indies Cricket Council for the Blind - purchase of equipment for the development of blind cricket across the region

Dominica
Dominica Association of Persons with Disabilities – a documentary aimed at promoting the World Health Organisation’s initiative ‘Vision 2020: The Right to Sight’, creating a greater awareness of visual impairment and persons living with the disability in Dominica, and highlighting the professional and creative abilities of said persons

Grenada

St David's RC Church - Restoration of the Marian House Centre for use by underprivileged communities

YWF-Kido Foundation – (Carriacou) reconnecting youth to the island’s natural diversity and providing them with skills to become eco-journalists by highlighting ecosystem conservation and wildlife protection through the avenues of photography, videography and editing

BLLB Community Library Project – construction and establishment of a community library in a rural portion of Grenada (four villages will have access – Beaton, Laura, La Femme and Bailles Bacolet)

Petite Bacaye Disaster Management Community Group – restoration of mangrove at the Petite Bacaye beach to protect the land from soil erosion and the impact of storms and hurricanes

St Theresa’s RC School – enhancing the sporting and recreational facilities of the village of Vincennes through the provision of a playing field, access road and box drain

Guyana
Guyana Community Based Rehabilitation Programme – establishment of a centre for sporting, cultural and recreational activities for persons with disabilities

Kanuku Mountains Community Representative Group – building this group’s capacity to effectively operate and administer to the recently approved Kanuku Mountains Protected Area

Maruranau Village – the establishment of village gardens for food security

Haiti

PROFAMIL - Rebuilding sexual and reproductive health centres post-earthquake

St Lucia

Ciceron Development Committee - establishment of after-school educational, artistic and sporting activities for underprivileged youth

Marigot Development Committee - establishment of food gardens across the community to enhance food security in single-parent households

St Vincent & the Grenadines

Ashton Multipurpose Cooperative (Union Island) - sustainable livelihood through seamoss mariculture

National Council of Women of St Vincent and the Grenadines - strengthening the institution's capacity to better serve women and girls in the country

Rainbow Unique Nursery & Preschool - early childhood development and educational enhancement

Trinidad & Tobago

Loveuntil Foundation - individual empowerment and personal enrichment program in volatile community

Personal Student Learning Unit - establishment of educational center's music program for underpriivileged youth

St James Police Youth Club - purchase of physical education and sewing equipment to provide youth with positive after-school hobbies

St Barb's Government Primary School - furnishing of newly donated audio-visual room in a financially depressed area

Mathura Farmers' Association - promotion of food security through the provision of a green house and agricultural supplies

Caribbean scholars get ready for study in Australia

28 Caribbean nationals came to Trinidad in preparation for their departure to take up study in Australia. They are among 30 Caribbean scholars recently offered full scholarships for postgraduate studies at the Masters and PhD levels under the Australia Awards initiative of the Australia Agency for International Development (AusAID).

HE Philip Kentwell, the Australian High Commissioner in Port of Spain hosted a reception in their honour at his residence on November 7, 2011. In his remarks to the scholars, the High Commissioner highlighted the importance of building on Australia’s existing bilateral and multilateral links with the Caribbean Community.

The reception was followed by a one-day workshop at which Guest Speaker, Dr. Abdullahi O. Abdulkadrim Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics and Associate Dean, Research & Innovation, Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of the West Indies (UWI)’s Mona campus shared his experiences in Australia with the scholars. Jeremy Callaghan, Campus Registrar, UWI - St. Augustine Campus, also gave the scholars an insight into living in Australia from the perspective of an Australian national.

Of the 28 scholars funded by AusAID, five have been awarded the prestigious Australian Leadership Award (ALA) scholarship. These awardees are from the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica and St. Lucia and were selected from 82 applicants around the region for 2012.

A further 25 candidates from Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis and St Vincent and the Grenadines have been selected for an Australian Development Scholarship (ADS). These awards are aimed to equip scholars with new skills and enhance their knowledge for effecting change and influencing development outcomes in their own countries.

Awardees will undertake postgraduate studies at Australian universities in fields that include Natural Resource & Environmental Management, Fisheries Policy & Agriculture, Educational & Special Education Studies, International Relations & Customs Law, Tourism and Hospitality, Sports Management, Social Development and Public Health.

Further information about Australia Awards can be found at www.australiaawards.gov.au.

CHOGM News

JOINT STATEMENT
of The Prime Ministers
of The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
and
The Commonwealth of Australia

The Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and outgoing Chair in Office of the Commonwealth, and the Honourable Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia and incoming Chair in Office of the Commonwealth, held talks on 25 October 2011 in Perth, Australia. The Prime Ministers welcomed the opportunity to exchange views on a range of important international and bilateral issues.

The Prime Ministers acknowledged the great friendship between Australia and Trinidad and Tobago underpinned by shared membership of the Commonwealth and the UN, newly established links through the Caribbean Community, CARICOM, as well as long-standing ties and mutual respect established through cricket. The two leaders looked forward to further strengthening of bilateral relations.

Recognising the strength of Trinidad and Tobago’s economy and its success in becoming a major regional financial centre, the two leaders welcomed a vibrant and growing bilateral trade and investment relationship. Trinidad and Tobago is currently Australia’s largest trading partner in the Caribbean and has attracted significant investment by BHP Billiton. Prime Minister Gillard welcomed the further momentum in relations generated through the opening of Australia’s High Commission in Port of Spain and implementation of the Australia-CARICOM Memorandum of Understanding.

Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar and Prime Minister Gillard welcomed progress by members of the United Nations towards an Arms Trade Treaty and committed to continue to work together to conclude the treaty in 2012. The two leaders recognised that the absence of agreed international standards on trade in conventional arms is a contributing factor to conflict and crime, undermining the peace and development of many countries.The two leaders expressed confidence that their governments’ joint cooperation on the January 2011 arms control workshop in Trinidad and Tobago had built further support for the treaty in the region. Both leaders confirmed their support for future collaboration during the upcoming March 2012 CARICOM regional workshop inTrinidad and Tobago.

Prime Minister Gillard recognised the influential and constructive role Trinidad and Tobago played as Chair in Office of the Commonwealth and as the previous host of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Prime Minister Persad- Bissessar congratulated Prime Minister Gillard and expressed confidence that CHOGM 2011 would be successful in taking forward issues of concern to the Commonwealth. The Prime Ministers agreed that a commitment to recommendations in the Eminent Persons Group report commissioned in Trinidad and Tobago would be an important legacy for both countries.

As the past and incoming chairs of the Office of the Commonwealth, the Prime Ministers committed to working together to further strengthen the Commonwealth and to deliver major outcomes on issues such as food security, natural resource management, remittances and climate change. The two leaders considered it important that any such outcomes should meet the needs of small states.

The two leaders recognised that this is the critical decade for action to tackle climate change. Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar commended Australia’s Clean Energy Future package as an important demonstration of how a country can play its full and fair part in the global climate effort while maintaining strong economic growth and providing new opportunities for business. Prime Minister Gillard welcomed Trinidad and Tobago’s engagement in the work of the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute to accelerate deployment of technology to reduce carbon pollution.The two leaders agreed on the importance of access to broad and well-functioning international carbon markets in assisting countries to commit to, and achieve, ambitious mitigation objectives.

Development Assistance

The Human Rights Grant Scheme

The Human Rights Grant Scheme considers applications from forty –four (44) eligible countries across the world. Of the 44 countries ONLY Haiti is eligible in Caribbean. More here

The 2011 application process came to a close on October 14, 2011. For information about the HRGS, please contact:

HRGS
Email: Caribbeanscholarships@ausaid.gov.au
Tele: 1-868-822-5482

Direct Aid Program (DAP)

The Direct Aid Program (DAP) is a flexible, small grants scheme for development activities available to most CARICOM countries. The emphasis of the program is on alleviating basic humanitarian hardships. More here