By IANS,
New Delhi : Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who traces her roots to India, arrived here Thursday on a 10-day visit during which she will visit her ancestral village in Bihar.
Bissessar is accompanied by cricketers Brian Lara and Daren Ganga, besides a high-level ministerial delegation
She will be the chief guest at the Pravasi Bharati Divas in Jaipur and will be honoured with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award Jan 9.
Bissessar will also visit Kolkata and Mumbai during her stay in India, external affairs ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin told reporters.
Akbaruddin said that it was a first state visit to India of the year and is also the first by a woman head of the government of Indian origin. “It has a special resonance as far as we are concerned,” he said.
She is accompanied by several ministers and sporting ambassadors Lara and Ganga.
Akbaruddin said that during her visit agreements on culture, cooperation in technical education and traditional medicines are likely to be signed between the two countries.
On Friday, she will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and will call on President Pratibha Patil and Vice President Hamid Ansari.
He said the visit is expected to further widen the scope of ties between India and Trinidad and Tobago, a carribean nation that 42 percent of the people of Indian origin.
Trinidad and Tobago is the largest in the Caribbean with vibrant and open economy, sharing close cultural and historical links with India.
Many Indian companies, including ESSAR, Reliance and Indraprashtha Gas Ltd, have shown interest to invest in in the mineral, oil and natural gas rich country.
“And these are at the negotiations stage and we hope they will mature in course of time.”
In 2010 India’s trade with the Latin American and Caribbean region was $23 billion. The outlook for the bilateral trade between the two countries has considerable potential, he said.
“Indian exports have grown exponentially from $8.8 million in 2001 to approximately $420 million in 2008-09,” he said.
He said that in the last two years bilateral trade has declined on account of shortfall of LNG exports of Trinidad and Tobago to India, and also due to global economic recession.