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FROM then prime minister Dr Eric Williams hosting a visit to Trinidad and Tobago by then Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1968 to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar hosting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in TT on July 3-4, the leaders of TT and India have had a long history of interactions.
The website of the High Commission of India in TT lists the interactions between the leaders of both countries.
Former PM, the late Basdeo Panday paid a state visit to India in January 1997, as Chief Guest for India's Republic Day.
In her first term as prime minister, Persad-Bissessar paid a state visit to India in January 2012.
"She was also Chief Guest at Pravasi Bharatiya (PBD) held in Jaipur and was conferred with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award," the website related.
Former PM Dr Keith Rowley paid a working visit to Mumbai, India, from May 15-19, 2024 during which he met Maharashtra state governor Ramesh Bains and visited Reliance Industries’ refining and petrochemical complex in Jamnagar.
Indian former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee paid a state visit to TT in February 1999 during the 24th Caricom Summit.
Indian former PM Dr Manmohan Singh led a high level delegation to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) Summit in TT hosted by former PM, the late Patrick Manning in Port of Spain in November 2009.
Modi and Rowley met in London in 2018 on the sidelines of the CHOGM Summit, in New York in 2019 on the sidelines of first India-Caricom Leaders’ Summit and again in Georgetown, Guyana in 2024 on the margins of 2nd India-Caricom Summit.
The high commission said Modi was the first foreign leader to congratulate Persad-Bissessar, as newly-elected PM, on April 29, 2025.
President Christine Kangaloo was chief guest in 2025 at India's celebration, the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (PBD) in Bhubaneswar, which she addressed.
"She was conferred with Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award (PBSA) at the National Day Reception organized by the Mission on January, 26, 2025."
Among recent ministerial visits, former minister of digital transformation Hassel Bacchus led a technical mission to India twice in 2023 and again in 2024. Former minister in the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs Renuka Sagramsingh-Sooklal attended the Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA) in New Delhi, India, in Feb 2024.
Former foreign affairs minister Dr Amery Browne held bilateral talks with India's External Affairs Minister Pabitra Margherita in TT in August 2024, who also met Rowley. Rowley had met Modi on November 21, 2024, for bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Caricom-India Summit in Georgetown, Guyana.
In a tweet on Twitter/X, Modi had reported, "We talked about how to diversify trade linkages between our nations. Areas like science, healthcare, education, renewable energy and agriculture offer great potential for co-operation."
Modi had welcomed Rowley approval of India's direct benefit transfer system known as UPI. "It is a matter of immense joy that Trinidad and Tobago has adopted UPI. The signing of the MOU relating to agro and food processing is also a welcome step."
Browne in a tweet on November 21, 2024, said he was glad to sign an MOU for TT to receive high-level agro processing equipment, co-signed by India's external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. Browne said in this India will help TT with integrated automated fruit and vegetable processing activities.
"The MOU will pave the way for the creation of economic and employment opportunities in the field of agro-processing, through the provision, by India, of up to US$1 million in financing and technical assistance to Trinidad and Tobago."
Otherwise, as then opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, in February 2021, during the covid19 pandemic successfully wrote to Modi requesting a gift of vaccines for TT nationals.
[caption id="attachment_1159962" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar - Photo by Faith Ayoung[/caption]
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