Trinidad and Tobago is an island nation located in the Caribbean Sea with a population of approximately 1.3 million people, according to 2017 estimates. The economy is highly dependent on oil and gas production, which accounts for about 40% of its GDP, while other industries include manufacturing, tourism and services. The main exports are petroleum products, chemicals and aluminum. Trinidad and Tobago’s foreign relations are mainly focused on regional organizations such as the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and the Organization of American States (OAS). It also has close ties with countries such as Canada, Venezuela and the United States. Politically, Trinidad and Tobago is a parliamentary republic led by Prime Minister Keith Rowley since 2015. The country has a bicameral legislature called the Parliament composed of 41 members elected by popular vote. The government continues to promote democracy within its borders despite ongoing challenges with crime, poverty and inequality. See militarynous for Trinidad and Tobago military and defense.
Yearbook 2017
Trinidad and Tobago. In June, Parliament’s lower house approved a bill that makes child marriage illegal in the country. The proposal had already been voted on in the Senate in January. The new law increased the age of marriage to 18 years. According to Countryaah.com, 3,478 child marriages had been concluded in the country from 1996 to 2016, where in 98% of the cases the minor was a girl. See ABBREVIATIONFINDER for frequently used acronyms and abbreviations related to as well as country profile of Trinidad and Tobago.
In November, former Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar was re-elected as party leader of the United National Congress (UNC) opposition party. Persad-Bissessar won the vote by a large margin when she was elected to her third term as party leader, a position she held since 2010. In November, riots broke out in the poor residential area of Beetham in the capital Port of Spain. Residents attacked vehicles, including police cars, to show their dissatisfaction with the lack of jobs and the generally poor life situation in the area.
Trinidad and Tobago was one of 17 countries and territories included in the EU’s first black list of tax havens, published in December.
HISTORY
On the threshold of the 21st century. the political life of the small Caribbean state appeared to be dominated by two parties, the only ones represented in Parliament: the United National Congress (UNC), of social democratic orientation and with powerful adhesions within the Indian community, and the Peoples’s National Movement (PNM), moderately nationalist and supported by descendants of African immigrants. The general elections of December 2001 gave the two parties the same number of seats (18), but a slight difference in votes in favor of the PNM meant that the leader of the latter, P. Manning, was appointed prime minister. Despite the post-electoral collaboration agreements between the two formations, the UNC boycotted normal parliamentary activity, advocating for new elections. As the clash between the formations was heated, some UNC deputies and ministers from the previous legislature were accused of fraud and corruption.
After yet another attempt to elect the President of Parliament, Manning made the announcement of early political elections for October 2002 ; on this occasion the PNM won 20 seats and the UNC 16, and Manning was confirmed in his post. His government program reaffirmed the need to reconcile the racial tensions between the Indian and black communities, and to resolve the still open question of the autonomy of Tobago, which in any case had its own representative body (on the occasion of whose elections the PNM won 8 out of 12 seats in January 2001 and 11 in January 2005). In February 2003 government candidate GM Richards was elected president of the Republic. Between 2004 and 2005, the government’s efforts against crime intensified: the trafficking of arms and drugs was considered the main cause of the increase in murders and kidnappings.
The country was under pressure from the international community due to its frequent use of the death penalty: in June-July 1999 the execution of 11 sentences raised numerous protests, also regarding the poor conditions of detention in the country’s prisons.