11 July 2025
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in Trinidad and Tobago’s history, has culminated in the signing of 15 bilateral agreements spanning health, education, trade, digital services, agriculture, justice and culture.
Modi, who landed amid elaborate security arrangements, was welcomed by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar who described India as “a trusted friend and reliable partner” that shares democratic values and development aspirations.
Modi’s two-day 3-4 July programme included a joint sitting of Parliament and high-level ministerial meetings at the Red House.
Among the accords was a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Quick Impact Projects (QIPs). “Through this MOU, the government of India will provide grant funding for the implementation of short gestation QIPs which will not exceed US$50,000 for each project. A maximum of five projects will be offered in each financial year,” a joint statement announced.
In support of digital education, Modi announced a donation of 2,000 laptops to bolster the Government’s e-learning initiative. Health sector aid comprises 20 dialysis units, two sea ambulances, and a prosthetic limb fitment camp for 800 individuals. Persad-Bissessar welcomed this support, saying it would “take healthcare cooperation beyond medicines and equipment.”
Agricultural cooperation was advanced with the handover of US$1mn in agro-machinery to the National Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation (NAMDEVCO). India also pledged technical assistance in millet cultivation, seaweed fertiliser production and natural farming.
On justice and security, New Delhi committed to training public officials, forensic experts and justice-sector personnel. T&T has requested India’s assistance in establishing a regional forensic science facility, and India will support digitisation of the state land registration system.
Trinidad and Tobago will become the first Caribbean nation to adopt India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and further collaboration is planned on India Stack tools such as DigiLocker and e-Sign. Persad-Bissessar noted that such digital cooperation would modernise public services and empower youth. “Trinidad and Tobago is honoured to adopt India’s UPI system and collaborate on India Stack tools, such as Aadhaar and DigiLocker, to modernise public services,” said the Prime Minister.
Cultural ties were strengthened through the renewal of the Programme of Cultural Exchanges for 2025–2028. Steelpan artistes will tour India, while Trinidadian pundits will train in India’s Geeta Mahotsav. Modi praised the inclusion of Yoga and Hindi in Trinidad’s schools, offering to send instructors.
“Today I am happy to announce that OCI cards will now be given to the sixth generation of the Indian diaspora in Trinidad and Tobago,” declared Modi at a cultural event in Couva’s Velodrome, extending Overseas Citizenship of India to those tracing ancestry back six generations.
Business groups broadly welcomed the accords as transformative. Trinidad and Tobago Chamber CEO Vashti Guyadeen highlighted the MOU on Pharmacopeial Cooperation, noting it promises “more affordable, high-quality generic drugs, potentially reducing national healthcare costs.” She also praised provisions for rural development and agriculture to transfer India’s irrigation and agri-tech innovations to enhance food security and reduce Trinidad and Tobago’s high food import bill.
Deoraj Mahase of the Point Lisas/Couva Chamber emphasised that the laptop, dialysis machine, ambulance and prosthetic limb donations “will chart the path for further cooperation between both countries,” including crime-fighting capacities under the justice MOUs.
Addressing Parliament, Persad-Bissessar praised India’s “compassionate humanitarian gift of vaccines and medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic,” recalling that the country received 40,000 Oxford/AstraZeneca doses in April 2021. She reported that bilateral trade reached TT$1.2bn (US$176mn) last fiscal year, with Trinidad and Tobago exporting liquefied natural gas, ammonia and methanol, and importing pharmaceuticals, textiles and industrial goods. “We aim to expand our exports to tap into India’s market of 1.4bn consumers,” she said.
Persad-Bissessar also announced plans for a Partial Scope Trade Agreement—the first by a CARICOM country with India—and groundwork for a new Bilateral Investment Treaty. On energy, she noted T&T will join India-led initiatives like the Global Biofuels Alliance and Disaster Resilient Infrastructure Coalition. India will also install a solar PV system at T&T’s Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs.
Meanwhile, the decision to award Modi the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (ORTT) elicited mixed reactions. The government lauded it as “a tribute of the nation’s appreciation for Prime Minister Modi’s outstanding contribution to the development of Trinidad and Tobago; and service to the region and wider international community.”
Most Indo-Trinidadian Hindu leaders welcomed the award, while some such as the Anjuman Sunnat-ul-Jamaat Association (ASJA) expressed “deep and principled concern” about honouring a leader they say has “emboldened religious intolerance and targeted the Muslim minority, citing the 2002 Gujarat riots and Kashmir’s revoked special status.
With 15 agreements, strategic investments and people-to-people initiatives, Modi’s landmark visit may well chart a new chapter in India–Trinidad and Tobago relations, one that blends economic opportunity, cultural exchange and shared heritage.
Source: Caribbean Insight – 11 July 2025 Volume 47, Issue 14